Falcons' offensive coordinator briefly lost Super Bowl play book

ByDan Graziano ESPN logo
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Falcons' offensive coordinator briefly lost Super Bowl play book
Falcons offensive coordinator lost his Super Bowl playbook, which prompted speculation that the Patriots had stolen it.

HOUSTON -- Not much has gone wrong lately for Kyle Shanahan. But after his Super Bowl media night session wound up Monday, the Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator and presumptive San Francisco 49ers head coach had reason to be worried.

"I'm stressed out right now," Shanahan said. "Somebody took my bag, and it had everything in it."

Shanahan's backpack, which contained a copy of the Falcons' Super Bowl playbook, Super Bowl tickets and other personal effects, had gone missing at some point during his 45-minute session with reporters in the stands at Minute Maid Park.

Shanahan spent about 15 minutes looking for the backpack after the Falcons' media session ended and before the New England Patriots' session began.

Fortunately for the Falcons, the mystery was solved quickly by USA Today writer and ESPN contributor Jarrett Bell, who discovered that San Francisco Examiner columnist Art Spander had mistakenly picked up Shanahan's bag instead of his own.

The bag was returned to Shanahan with all of the contents still inside.