NFL fans blast referees for awful roughing the passer call on Raiders, "bailing out" Kirk Cousins - "Disgusting and embarrassing"

Kirk Cousins and the Falcons won against the Raiders but fans felt that the quarterback got lucky with some referees' calls going his way. Atlanta had come into this game having lost four straight games, which also coincided with the quarterback failing to throw any touchdown passes and recording at least one interception per match in that period.

The Falcons and Kirk Cousins stopped that slide but it was hardly a vintage performance. They need some good fortune to win 15-9 against the Raiders and one such moment came on a roughing-the-passer call by the referees.

The quarterback threw a bad pass that was batted down by the defender, whose momentum caused him to bump into the passer. It was a mild collision and the Raiders thought they had recovered the ball, only for the referees to call a personal foul for hitting the quarterback. It gave the Falcons a welcome reprieve in a close game.

Fans were unhappy with the officials calling this penalty in Kirk Cousins' favor and took to X/Twitter to vent their frustrations. Here are some reactions from the social media platform.

Some said that it is time for a rule change so that such incidental contact is not deemed a foul. Here are some more responses.

"This “roughing the passer” rule is some insane bullsh*t. There are definitely some clear cut, unnecessary hits. But this is softer than baby sh*t, homie." - vented one.

"In order for this to change, something needs to happen to create a sustainable backlash with the public, similar to steroids with MLB, or the Astros cheating. The NFL hasn't suffered any kind of measurable fallout for this type of clown officiating. That needs to change." - wrote another.

"What is the defender supposed to do there?" - wondered a third.

Kirk Cousins and Falcons catch lucky refereeing break against Raiders but leave room for improvement

After losing four games on the bounce, Falcons fans will take the 15-9 win. However, it was not a performance that will worry the Buccaneers, who are currently leading the NFC South.

Kirk Cousins threw for just 112 yards against the Raiders, which was his lowest output this season. He had one touchdown pass but again threw a pick to end up with a passer rating of 78.6.

Las Vegas is one of the worst teams in the league and Atlanta needed the referees to come up with a controversial call that aided them in their victory. This game was not a great advert for Monday Night Football.