The Kansas City Chiefs picked up their third win of the season on Sunday night, but it’s a win that might not have happened if they hadn’t benefitted from a controversial no-call that came late in the fourth quarter of their 22-17 victory over Atlanta.
With just under 4:30 left to play in the game, the Falcons were facing a third-and-5 from the Chiefs’ six-yard line. On the third down play, Kirk Cousins threw a laser to Kyle Pitts, but he wasn’t able to come up with the ball. One reason Pitts wasn’t able to make the catch is because Chiefs safety Bryan Cook was draped all over him and he was draped all over him well before the ball got there.
As you can see below, Cook was essentially bear-hugging Pitts before the ball even got to the tight end on a play that probably should have been flagged for pass interference.
Bryan Cook appeared to interfere with Kyle Pitts
NBC/NFL
Here’s a video of the play so you can see what it looked like at full speed.
Despite the apparent interference, there was no penalty flag thrown on the play.
So why didn’t Cook get flagged for PI?
According to referee Tra Blake, it’s because the official who was responsible for making that call didn’t see any interference happen.
“That is a real-time call that officials have to make a judgment on,” Blake said in the pool report. “From the angle that they had at the time, they did not feel that there was a foul committed.”
Since pass interference is no longer reviewable, officials have to make a snap judgement when it comes to throwing a flag for PI and in this case, the officiating crew didn’t feel that the play warranted a flag.
“That’s a real-time judgment call for us,” Blake said. “We do the best we can to make that decision.”
So that’s why there was no pass…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/referee-from-chiefs-falcons-game-explains-controversial-no-call-on-apparent-pass-interference-by-kansas-city/
Author : John Breech
Publish date : 2024-09-23 14:02:19
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