Patriots keep having calls overturned despite lack of ‘indisputable’ evidence

Across three quarters of football between Week 15 and Week 16, the Patriots benefited from three dubious replay overturns of calls on the field.

We’ll go in reverse chronological order, because you already know the first.

In the third quarter of their Week 16 game at home against the Bills, the Patriots were ruled to come up short on a fourth-down run inside Buffalo territory.

Patriots running back Dion Lewis probably got the first down on that run. He reached forward with the ball, and it looks like it broke the vertical plane extending from the Buffalo 25-yard line, which was his line to gain. But “probably” is not the same as “indisputably,” which is supposed to be the standard to overturn a call on the field.

Lewis was given the first down on review, and New England got a field goal later.

This was called a TD on the field. At issue is whether Benjamin controlled the ball, after bobbling it, and got his left foot down inbounds at some point concurrently or after that. He very well might not have, but it’s so hard to say, because we’re dealing with blades of grass maybe or maybe not touching the tip of Benjamin’s shoe.

The touchdown was overturned and called an incomplete pass.

I don’t think this was a touchdown. James had to control the ball all the way through his contact with the ground, and it’s likelier than not that the ball did hit the ground at some point without James controlling it. But a touchdown was called on the field.

I don’t see anything resembling conclusive evidence that James didn’t finish the catch. He probably didn’t have a hand fully under the ball when it wiggled in his hands, and he probably didn’t have control of it at the very end of the play, when it clearly did touch the grass. But those are things that are probably true, not definitely true.

The James touchdown was overturned in the final minute of Patriots-Steelers. It would’ve likely won the game for Pittsburgh, which lost on a pick two plays later.

There’s no indisputable video evidence that absolutely should overturn the call on the field. That’s the NFL’s longtime standard. One former NFL officiating czar says:

There is also no evidence of any kind that the NFL’s officiating department is engaged in a conspiracy to help the Patriots win games.

With that in mind, New England is the most charmed team in the world, and I look forward to the Patriots winning the Super Bowl this season after Julio Jones’ game-winning touchdown, or whoever, gets overturned because he hasn’t had time to become a runner before lunging for the goal line and bobbling the ball on contact with the turf.