MONDAY NIGHT REFEREES: The Patriots survived a slugfest with the Bill to move to 10-0 on the season, but the real story was the terrible officiating. An errant whistle pretty much cost New England a touchdown in the first half. Opinions were divided over whether the refs jobbed the Bills out of one more play when they let the clock run after it looked like Sammy Watkins got out of bounds. Mike Tirico summed it up best with his “screwed up officiating” comment at the end of the game.
The NFL’s terrible referees strike again
2015 is turning into the year of the ref. Officials struck again on Monday night, leaving their mark all over the Patriots’ 20-13 win.
FLY, BILL, FLY: Bill Belichick was trying to fly!
NEW AUDIBLE: The Patriots had some fun with the opposing coach, using “REX RYAN” as an audible at the line.
ESPN TAKES A SHOT: Patriots fans are not too happy with this tweet from ESPN.
GREAT CATCH: Monday was the one-year anniversary of Odell Beckham Jr’s one-handed catch. Sammy Watkins celebrated appropriately.
BRADY OFF BALANCE: The Bills used a complex defense to keep Tom Brady under pressure all night, and it almost worked. At the end of the night, the Patriots had the top defense in the NFL.
TAYLOR HURT: Bills QB Tyrod Taylor finished the game despite significant pain from a shoulder injury. His status for next week is cloudy. The loss drops the Bills to the eighth playoff seed, but they’re still in the Wild Card hunt.
POWER RANKINGS: The Vikings were the big movers this week, but it was in the wrong direction.
WHO LET KEENUM PLAY: The NFL and NFLPA are both investigating how Rams QB Case Keenum was allowed to play after suffering a concussion on Sunday. There’s plenty of blame to go around. Rams head coach Jeff Fisher put on a master class in setting up everyone but himself to take the fall. He even threw his own head trainer under the bus.
OSWEILER STARTING AGAIN: No surprise here, but the Broncos at least made it official on Monday.
DEAR MR. FANTASY: It’s a weird year for running backs, but if you can, you need to try and pick up Thomas Rawls, someone named Buck Allen and these other guys. If you need a QB, Marcus Mariota leads a list of potential pickups. The receiver market is a little thinner.
TRADE RUMORS: We’ve identified a few potential destinations for Colin Kaepernick next season, with Philly leading the list.
DABBING: Okay, it’s over now. Ron Rivera is doing it, and so is Chris Berman.
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SB Nation presents: Cam Newton dabbed all over Washington on Sunday
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