The Cardinals were on the wrong end of what appeared two missed pass interference calls by on-field officials Sunday.
Kliff Kingsbury challenged for a defensive pass interference penalty on the 49ers and won. He didn’t press his luck by challenging a defensive pass interference penalty on his team, which appeared just as “clear and obvious” the Cardinals didn’t interfere.
49ers cornerback Richard Sherman, despite his assertion that the league is picking on him, clearly committed pass interference on Christian Kirk early in Sunday’s game. Sherman tackled Kirk 41 yards downfield before the ball arrived.
Kingsbury challenged the play when no flag was thrown, and Al Riveron, the NFL’s supervisor of officials, dropped a flag.
“I was shocked myself,” Kingsbury acknowledged during an interview on 98.7 Arizona’s Sports Station, via Darren Urban of the team website.
Later in the game, 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk tackled Cardinals linebacker Joe Walker (and got a piece of his facemask) on a throw downfield. Walker, not Juszczyk, was called for pass interference.
The Cardinals didn’t challenge, leery of Riveron’s overturn rate on challenged pass interference calls.
“Sometimes those calls are, yes, it is pass interference, but no it won’t be overturned,” Kingsbury said. “There is some subjectivity to that that makes it challenging. There is some risk/reward. The deep ball [to Kirk], we thought it was clearly pass interference, and we got rewarded with one. The Joe [Walker play] looked close, but I didn’t feel like we’d get that one. It is challenging, but you’ve just got to do the best you can with it.”
