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In an appearance last week on PFT Live on NBC Sports Radio, Falcons G.M. Thomas Dimitroff was adamant that team football operations had nothing to do with the use of artificial crowd noise at the Georgia Dome in 2012 and 2013. Unfortunately for team football operations, they may be the ones paying the price.

Persistent chatter at the Scouting Combine suggested that the Falcons will be losing a second- or third-round pick in the 2015 draft for the infraction. The NFL has provided no insight on the magnitude of the penalty the team will be facing.

If it’s a second-day pick, it wouldn’t be a surprise. As cheating goes, attempting to disrupt the ability of the opposing offense to communicate seems to be a pretty big deal. Given that it wasn’t a one-time thing but a two-year pattern tends to call for an even more significant punishment.

Either way, answers will be coming on the punishment, if any, to be imposed on the Falcons for #NoiseGate, the Browns for #TextGate, and the Patriots for #DeflateGate soon enough. Possibly on upcoming Friday afternoons at 5:00 p.m. ET or so.