Falcons to lose a draft pick for piping in crowd noise

The Atlanta Falcons will lose a draft pick for piping in crowd noise during games, Adam Schefter reports. The scandal broke earlier this year, and the NFL is cracking down now -- despite the fact aaht there have been rumors surrounding other teams doing the same thing for ages. It's not clear which draft pick the Falcons are going to lose.

Update: Vaughn McClure reports they're losing a 2016 fifth-round pick.

NFL expected to suspend Falcons president Rich McKay from comp committee and take draft pick from ATL for piping in crowd noise, per sources

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 30, 2015

Bad news for the Falcons means good news for the Buccaneers, so time to celebrate I guess. And maybe the lack of piped-in crowd noise will push the Bucs just over the edge into winning one more game next year. Then again, they lost 56-14 and 31-23 to the Falcons the past two years in Atlanta, so it's not like that noise was the difference-maker in recent seasons.

Also noteworthy: the Falcons' offensive coordinator while they piped in crowd noise was Dirk Koetter, who's now running the Tampa Bay offense. Hope he doesn't bring that trick with him to Tampa, because the Bucs really can't afford to lose any draft picks.