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Steelers' TJ Watt Furious After Bad Offside Call Takes Away Perfectly Timed Strip Sack

TJ Watt screamed at officials after they erased a strip sack.

Stephen Douglas

TJ Watt did not agree with an offside call.
TJ Watt did not agree with an offside call. / FOX
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The Atlanta Falcons took a 10-9 lead into halftime against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 1. The Steelers could have had held the lead, but officials made a bad call against TJ Watt that erased a drive-ending strip sack late in the second quarter.

On first-and-10 from the 17 with less than a minute remaining in the quarter TJ Watt appeared to perfectly time the snap, get around right tackle Kaleb McGary and sack Kirk Cousins while causing a fumble. The Steelers recovered the ball, but the refs called Watt offside.

Judge for yourself.

It looks like Watt moved at the exact same moment as the ball. He timed it so well that he was nearly in the backfield before anyone else on the Steelers defensive line even moved.

After the call erased the turnover, Watt was beside himself. He was seen intensely telling Mike Tomlim about it on the sideline and also took some times to scream at one of the referees.

The interaction with the official was shared on social media in slow motion and high definition by FOX.

Kirk Cousins threw a touchdown pass on the very next play.

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Stephen Douglas

STEPHEN DOUGLAS

Stephen Douglas is a Senior Writer on the Breaking & Trending News Team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in journalism and media since 2008, and now casts a wide net with coverage across all sports. Stephen spent more than a decade with The Big Lead and has previously written for Uproxx and The Sporting News. He has three children, two degrees and one now unverified Twitter account.

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