The Atlanta Falcons opened the door to an online roasting with an ill-fated social media post on Tuesday.
The Falcons were one of 20 NFL teams to open OTAs on Tuesday, and as most of those teams do, they shared a number of relatively innocuous practice photos on social media. In one image, the Falcons showed off newly-acquired cornerback Mike Ford Jr., who was standing alongside veteran safety Jessie Bates III.
There was just one problem: Bates wears No. 3, while Ford wears No. 28. Either the Falcons’ social media team did not notice this, or there’s a hostile agent in there, because everyone else certainly did.
The Falcons intern definitely got fired 😭😭
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) May 27, 2025
28-3…the post has since been deleted. pic.twitter.com/V5ufrl05c2
As is the case with anything involving the Falcons and a score of 28-3, the jokes started flying. One popular joke was that a rival team’s fan was running the account.
Do the Saints have someone working for the Falcons social media team???
— Barstool NOLA (@BarstoolNOLA) May 27, 2025
There’s no way they posted this😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/PPdQfmXZxO
It was bad enough that the post was eventually deleted.
The jokes are, of course, a reference to the Falcons’ blown 28-3 lead against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI. The organization and those involved in that game have never and probably will never live it down.
The Falcons did not acknowledge the responses before deleting the post. At this point, they might just want to ask either Ford or Bates to change their number to something less painful.
