The Buffalo Bills were holding their own against Tom Brady and the New England Patriots this past Sunday. With a few seconds left in the first half, Tyrod Taylor found wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin in the corner of the end zone. Benjamin snagged a perfect pass and managed to drag his left foot on the green before stepping out of bounds. The touchdown gave Buffalo a 17-13 lead, until it was overturned. According to the NFL, the wide receiver did not have control of the ball. Sports announcers such as Tony Romo and Boomer Esiason disagreed with the reversed call.
While the Bills had offensive struggles in the second half, this is the second straight week of controversial calls on overturned touchdowns. Last week, the Pittsburgh Steelers watched a touchdown pass to tight end Jesse James get called an incomplete catch. The touchdown would have won the game for Pittsburgh and helped to secure homefield advantage in the playoffs. Two back-to-back controversial calls that favor New England has some football fans raising their eyebrows and asking themselves one question: Are NFL referees rigging games for the Patriots?
NFL Football Operations gives controversial explanation
NFL Football Operations tweeted, “In #BUFvsNE, when Kelvin Benjamin gains control, his left foot is off the ground.
The receiver only has one foot down in bounds with control. Therefore, it is an incomplete pass.”
Most sports analysts and fans do not agree with the overturned Kelvin Benjamin call. Watching a video of the play shows a clear line in the turf where Benjamin dragged his left toe. He appears to have control in and out-of-bounds.
Furthermore, the ball is tucked into his chest as he goes out of bounds. The rule states that a call is only supposed to be overturned if there is clear and conclusive evidence that the wrong call was made on the field.
Mike Pereira, the former Vice President of NFL officiating, was not in favor of the call. Pereira tweeted that the score should not have been reversed and that the line where Benjamin dragged his foot imprinted the turf, as stated on Touchdown Wire.
Sports fans unleash their fury on Twitter
The bad calls against Benjamin and James have something in common. The Patriots were on the winning end of the reversed calls. Jason Smith tweeted about the Benjamin call, “Of COURSE that Kelvin Benjamin TD was going to be overturned. ITS THE PATRIOTS.”
12Up had plenty to say about the touchdown, as they tweeted yesterday, “Kelvin Benjamin got his TD overturned because it's the Pats and you are not allowed to score touchdowns against them at any point, ever.”
Another call at the beginning of the season when the Patriots played the New York Jets turned New England’s way. Jets’ wide receiver Austin Sefarian-Jenkins caught a pass and then dove for the pylon, which was initially ruled a touchdown.
According to replay officials, the wide receiver did not have control of the ball, and the touchdown was reversed. The officials also claimed that Jenkins fumbled the ball and recovered it out-of-bounds. The score would have had the Jets only down by a field goal. Instead, the Patriots got a touchback. They ended up wining the game.
On Christmas Eve, Matt O’Brien shared his opinion of the reversed calls on Twitter with his words, “Austin Sefarian-Jenkins, Jesse James, Kelvin Benjamin.... The NFL is cheating for the Patriots and doesn't care who knows.”
Calls reversed in games where Tom Brady struggled
In the last four games, Tom Brady has more interceptions than touchdowns, as stated by Pro Football Focus Stats.
All three of the controversial calls occurred on days where Brady’s numbers dipped. In the Jets game, his completion rate was only 52.6 percent. Against the Steelers, Brady did not throw a touchdown pass until the end of the game, his completion rate only 62.8 percent. Yesterday, Brady looked bad in the first half against Buffalo as Bills safety Jordan Poyer intercepted him for a pick 6. Brady’s touchdown pass to Rob Gronkowski in the first half was a bad throw that Gronk turned into a one-handed catch. In all three of these games, the overturned calls were made when Brady was off target and throwing picks. This is why sports fans feel that these reversed calls were rigged to help the Patriots and Tom Brady, whose stats have been showing some decline.
The 37-16 win against the Buffalo Bills gave the New England Patriots a first-round bye in the playoffs for the eighth year in a row. Buffalo is barely hanging on in the playoff race.
