TAMPA, Fla. -- Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Dirk Koetter is not happy with the Bucs' social media team, which trolled the Atlanta Falcons on Monday for losing to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI.
"I want to make sure on behalf of the Bucs organization that I apologize to the Falcons for whatever that was supposed to be that went out on social media," Koetter said. "That's not what our organization is about."
It started with the Bucs promoting the online sale of team fidget spinners. The Falcons responded, "Are you nervous about something?"
That's when things escalated quickly. The Bucs fired back with, "We ain't worried 'bout nothing!" along with a photo of Vernon Hargreaves (No. 28) and Jameis Winston (No. 3) bumping fists in the locker room.
@AtlantaFalcons We ain't worried 'bout nothing! pic.twitter.com/7rIpy9gxtE
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@TBBuccaneers) May 22, 2017
The Falcons blew a 28-3 lead to the Patriots in the largest collapse in Super Bowl history.
"That was totally unprofessional and not smart on our part, whoever was responsible for that," Koetter said. "Heck, we wanted to be playing in the Super Bowl, and we were home sitting on our butts while they were playing. We've got no room to make fun of anybody that was in the Super Bowl, whether they won or not."
There are a lot of close ties between the teams. Koetter was the offensive coordinator for the Falcons from 2012 to 2014, and defensive coordinator Mike Smith was head coach in Atlanta from 2008 to 2014. Falcons president and CEO Rich McKay was general manager of the Bucs when they won Super Bowl XXXVII.