The Buffalo Bills were as close to a halftime lead over the New England Patriots as they could possibly get, but officials determined a pass to Kelvin Benjamin was incomplete after it was originally ruled a touchdown.
Kelvin Benjamin’s overturned touchdown is going to cause problems for the NFL
The catch rule strikes again, and it’s causing powerful people to question it as well as the NFL’s central replay system.
Needless to say, the decision to overturn the touchdown gave fans who dislike the NFL’s catch rule more ammunition for their argument. It even had Bills’ owner Terry Pegula weighing in on the issue in the days after that.
No matter your rooting interests or thoughts on the call, there’s no doubt that it was razor close either way.
Benjamin made a great catch in the back corner of the end zone and got both feet down — another angle confirmed his left foot dragged briefly — but the question is whether or not he had control before his left toe lifted off the field.
Even with the various replay angles, it was difficult to determine conclusively if Benjamin had it or not.
Why was Benjamin’s touchdown overturned?
The officials ruled it a touchdown, but after a review, the league’s central replay center decided that he did not have both feet down at the time of control.
After the incompletion, the Bills settled for a field goal to go to halftime tied with the Patriots, 13-13.
Bills coach Sean McDermott and Tyrod Taylor spoke with deep judge Mark Hittner after the call to overturn the touchdown was made.
“That’s a hell of a throw, and a catch, I thought,” Hittner said to them.
When McDermott asked why it got overturned, Hittner replied “I don’t know.”
Buffalo did get a lead on the opening possession of the second half after driving 63 yards and settling for a field goal from New England’s 12-yard line. The Patriots answered that on the next drive, and from there held the Bills scoreless for the rest of the game while piling on another 21 points on their way to a 37-16 win.
The owner criticizes the NFL’s decision
During a Tuesday radio appearance, Terry Pegula echoed how most fans feel about the catch rule after their team’s been burned by it.
“They obviously weren’t looking at the same television the rest of the country was looking at, were they?” the Bills owner said.
“But everybody I talked to -- and they’re not Bills fans and they’re not necessarily anti-Patriots -- they’re all baffled by that call, which just wasn’t consistent with what replay [should be].”
The call on the field was overturned by the league’s central replay office. All replay decisions are centrally made now, a new rule the NFL adopted in the spring. Intended as a way to standardize how rules are applied, it’s generated more controversy as the season’s gone on.
Calls on the field can only be overturned if there is indisputable evidence to do so. Critics of the new system have argued that its application has blurred the standard for what constitutes indisputable evidence and erased the standard for overturning calls.
“Replay was developed by this league to correct obviously mistakes,” Pegula said. “And if you got to look at that play 30 times from five different angles, and keep looking at it, and looking at it and looking at it, you go with the call on the field. That’s what the league has been doing ever since replay started. As a matter of fact, Dean Blandino, who was the head of replay last year, said last year that was a touchdown.”
The catch rule, possibly even the centralized replay system itself, might be getting another look from the NFL competition committee and owners this spring.
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, who’s previously been supportive of the rule, called for its reevaluation after his team had a potential game-winning touchdown overturned against the Patriots.
Pegula wants the league to take another look at it too.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but we have to fix it. And I’m not saying that as the owner of the Bills; I’m saying that as a football fan. We can’t have stuff like this happening in our league.”
There were heavy playoff implications for both teams with Buffalo fighting the Tennessee Titans and Baltimore Ravens for a Wild Card berth, and the Patriots trying to hold off the Pittsburgh Steelers and Jacksonville Jaguars for the top seed in the AFC.
A touchdown would’ve put the Bills in great shape to pull off the upset, maybe. Now, the Bills need a win against the Dolphins this week and either a Ravens loss or losses (or ties) by the Chargers and Titans.
The overturned touchdown was the worst call of the week
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