Bad Mood: WATCH Falcons Coach Arthur Smith on Refs

The Atlanta Falcons were beaten by the Buffalo Bills 29-15 on Sunday. The road loss dropped the Falcons to 7-9 and eliminated them from playoff contention.

Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan thought he had cut the Bills lead to 29-22 when he plunged head-first into the end zone, but the officials ruled him down at the one and flagged him for taunting.

Falcons coach Arthur Smith was in no mood to discuss the officials after the game.

"I’m not going to comment on that," said a stone-faced Smith. "The officials have a hard job."

The taunting penalty was especially damaging once Ryan was ruled short of the goal line. Instead of 29-22 with six minutes left, it was still 29-15 and now third-and-goal from the 16.

Two incompletions later, the game was essentially over.

Asked what Ryan said to get his first career taunting penalty, Smith still wouldn't bite.

"That would be a great question for Matt," said Smith "I understand what happened there … but it does no good right now to comment on the officiating."

Smith battled to bite his tongue as players and coaches can face fines for criticizing officials, and the head coach also didn't want to appear to be giving excuses for his team's loss.

"Obviously they ruled it short – so you’d like to be able to – I understand why the way it is … I’m going to stay away from that one," finished Smith.

One of Smith's own offensive calls came with some controversy of its own. Atlanta lined up to punt from the Buffalo 32. A delay-of-game penalty pushed the ball back to the 37, but the ensuing punt went into the end zone for a net 12-yard punt.

Smith said the weather and other issues played into that decision.

"Yeah, it was," Smith said when asked if the weather was a factor, "but we still have to handle that better. You don’t want to waste a timeout there. We had an equipment issue. It wasn’t communicated well."

"Where that is in that end zone, that’s a tough end zone to kick a decent field goal into."

The Falcons face the New Orleans Saints on Sunday. The Saints late win against the Carolina Panthers kept their playoff hopes alive.

The Falcons beat the Saints in New Orleans 27-25 on November 7 and would like nothing more than to send the Who Dats back down I-85 with their season over on Sunday.

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