Falcons cornerback Desmond Trufant made a heads-up play to help secure the 35-28 victory over the Raiders.
The rowdy fans in the black hole thought Amari Cooper had scored on a 49-yard touchdown. The extra point would have tied the game at 28 with 8:10 to play.
But the Falcons pass rush has flushed Derek Carr from the pocket and he was scrambling about the field.
“He got pushed out of bounds,” Trufant said. “Once a quarterback scrambles out of the pocket there is no illegal contact. There’s pass interference and there’s holding.
“But I can have my hands on him and I pushed him out. That’s day one for (defensive backs). If you are by the sidelines I can push him out. I knew play was over for him.”
Trufant said Cooper was “dead” on that play.
The Raiders were not happy with the call.
“Well he was definitely pushed out, but it’s not the college game,” Raiders coach Jack Del Rio said. “Unless he was pushed out illegally, which the question was, was he pushed out illegally or not.
“It was decided that he was not pushed out illegally and therefor the hat comes off and he can’t get the ball. The only tie you get that ability to come back in after being forced out is if it was illegal contact that forced him out.”
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