Football fans are convinced that the NFL refs “rigged” the Kansas City Chiefs-Atlanta Falcons “Sunday Night Football” game following several head-scratching calls that benefited one team.
Despite plenty of uncharacteristic mistakes, Patrick Mahomes and the defending champions narrowly escaped Mercedes-Benz Stadium with a 22-17 road win over the Falcons. But the victory did not come without some serendipity, courtesy of questionable calls by the NFL refs.
The most controversial moment of the night came in the fourth quarter, with under five minutes remaining and the Chiefs clinging to a five-point lead. On 3rd-and-5 at the Kansas City six, Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins could not connect with Kyle Pitts for the go-ahead touchdown.
But look at the replay from several angles, and you’ll see that Chiefs safety Bryan Cook committed clear-as-day and obvious blatant pass interference on Pitts. And yet, the NFL refs failed to throw a flag on the play:
A lot of contact on Kyle Pitts in the end zone…no call
Falcons end up turning it over on downs down by 5 with 4 minutes left in the game #KCvsATL pic.twitter.com/ewGqm0u8Cg
— Bad Sports Refs (@BadSportsRefs) September 23, 2024
Tough look for this not to be DPI on the #Chiefs pic.twitter.com/tKhZxK33cm
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) September 23, 2024
The super legal, not at all pass interference against Kyle Pitts…#KCvsATL pic.twitter.com/2MtINvliEl
— Tony Clements (@TonyCMKE) September 23, 2024
Not to mention that there was this missed facemask penalty against Cook on Ray-Ray McCloud III following a big fourth-quarter run:
