Falcons All-Pro wide receiver Julio Jones was incredulous after the 26-24 loss to Seattle on Sunday.
“That was crazy,” said Jones, who then flashed a quizzical look.
He confirmed what replays tended to show and the NFL officials ignored: he was interfered with by Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman on a fourth-and-10 with the game on the line.
“I had a seam route on the play,” Jones said. “It was fourth down. Matt (Ryan) just threw the ball up and gave me an opportunity to make a play on the ball. We desperately needed it to try to go down there, first all of all to get the first down and potentially get a field goal.”
Jones almost made the catch one-handed, but the ball hit the ground.
“Before I took off, he grabbed my right side and spun me around before I jumped up,” Jones said. “It was just a missed call.”
The Falcons’ sideline was celebrating at first and then coach Dan Quinn was screaming after officials for the no-call.
Jones didn’t want to dwell on the call.
“It’s over with,” Jones said. “It’s done. We are on to the next one right now.”
Jones was held in check in the first half as he had just two catches for 25 yards. He broke loose in the third quarter as he was moved into the slot. He caught five pass for 119 yards to power the Falcons’ rally.
“The offense was just clicking after we just settled down,” Jones said. “Everybody was anxious to play. We’d been out here for a week. You have those matchups like we had today, everybody was ready to show what they had. It’s nothing about them. It’s more on us, settling down and going out there and playing football.”
Jones got the offense back on track with a 36-yard touchdown catch.
“I was in the slot and it was another seam ball and Earl (Thomas) just played in the middle of field and Matt took advantage of it,” Jones said.
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