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.

 

Tre Blake making a call (left). Atlanta Falcons running a play vs. Kansas City Chiefs (right). Fans are criticizing the NFL refs over their performance in this game.

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:

Not to mention that there was this missed facemask penalty against Cook on Ray-Ray McCloud III following a big fourth-quarter run:

 

And so, some fans are now accusing the NFL refs of “rigging” Sunday night’s game for the defending Super Bowl champions:

Falcons head coach Raheem Morris refused to discuss the no-call by the NFL refs when Cooks interfered with Pitts. Per The Athletic’s Josh Kendall, Morris simply told reporters in his post-game press conference, “I like my money.”

The Chiefs (3-0) will visit the Los Angeles Chargers next Sunday, while the Falcons will try and get back to .500 when they host the New Orleans Saints.

More Controversy Surrounding NFL Refs In Week 3

The Falcons weren’t the only team on the wrong end of some head-scratching calls by the NFL refs during Sunday’s games. Los Angeles Chargers star Khalil Mack was called for roughing the passer on Justin Fields despite being pushed into by a Pittsburgh Steelers offensive lineman.

The Arizona Cardinals also had a potential game-changing pick-six off Jared Goff taking away when the officials (seemingly prematurely) blew the whistle for the two-minute warning. The Detroit Lions went on to win by a touchdown, so that call indeed impacted the outcome of the game.