Official makes lame excuse for missing clear pass interference in endzone

Late in Sunday's game against the Kansas City Chiefs, Atlanta Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts was interfered with when attempting to catch a go-ahead touchdown on third down. No flag was thrown (shocker), leading to another controversial ending to a Chiefs game.

The play was textbook pass interference, no one can deny that. Bryan Cook made no attempt to turn his head and play the football. Instead, he prevented Pitts from working his way back to the ball—a clear sign of DPI.

And, as usually happens following a controversial play in an NFL game, the referee gave a quote that infuriated fans even more.

Refs give lame excuse for missing clear pass interference on Kyle Pitts

Following every game, a designated official has to make himself available for questioning by the media. On Sunday night, that official was Tra Blake who was asked by D. Orlando Ledbetter, of the AJC, why there wasn't pass interference in the endzone.

His response? Well, it was quite lame...

"That is a real-time call that officials have to make a judgment on. From the angle that they had at the time, they did not feel that there was a foul committed. That is a judgment call and in real-time, with the angle we had, we did not feel that there was a foul committed. That’s a real-time judgment call for us, we do the best we can to make that decision."

- Tra Blake

Then get a better angle!

There is more than just one official on the field; even the official who didn't have the right angle could have inferred that there was interference. Not every call on the field is made with a perfect angle.

Seeing a player fight back to the ball while there is a defender in his arms who is looking the opposite way of the ball usually equals pass interference. The flag should have been thrown so the officials could huddle and put the pieces of the puzzle together.

It was quite egregious and the response only makes things worse.

This came just a few hours after an identical play was called pass interference to set the Rams up in game-winning field goal range. Former Falcons linebacker De'Vondre Campbell was defending a play on the sideline. He face-guarded which resulted in a correctly-called pass interference penalty.

And it comes a week after the Chiefs converted a fourth-and-long on a pass interference play where the Bengals safety was tracking the ball. Was it pass interference? Absolutely, but it wasn't as bad as the non-call on Pitts.

Of course, Falcons fans are used to this considering they had to watch Tom Brady get bailed out by a Grady Jarrett roughing the passer call just a couple of years ago. It is funny how these things always seem to happen to the underdog teams.

Ultimately, the Falcons still had a chance to win it and they know that. If they had converted that final fourth down and reached the endzone, the non-call wouldn't be such a big deal. They need to build off almost beating the defending champs and get their first divisional win against the Saints on Sunday.