From the moment the league office overturned two key fourth-quarter rulings in the Week 14 Steelers-Ravens game, the countdown started for Sunday morning. What would NFL officiating messenger Walt Anderson say, or not say, on NFL Network about the Aaron Rodgers “catch” and the Isaiah Likely “non-catch”?
And, more importantly, would Anderson be given enough time in the four-hour show to address all of the controversial calls from the game, including the unnecessary roughness penalty on a field-goal attempt that the league privately told the Ravens was a mistake?
As to the last question, the answer was no. Despite the importance of the issue to the actual and perceived integrity of the game, Anderson spoke for fewer than two minutes of the 240-minute show, addressing only one of the three very controversial calls from Pittsburgh at Baltimore.
Here’s what he said about the decision to reject the real-time ruling from the on-field officials that Likely had completed the catch process, for what would (should) have been a go-ahead touchdown with 2:47 to play.
“There’s three elements that have to be satisfied,” Anderson said, “Control of the football. And then two steps or a body part. And so he gets control, he takes two steps. What are we now looking for? And the rule is very specific. After those first two, you’ve got to have that third element. And the most common element for receivers that are running is a third step with control of the ball. As you can see here, before that third step gets down, the defender is able to punch the ball out. That’s why the pass is incomplete.”
If we’re only focusing on a third foot as the way to satisfy the third element, Anderson isn’t wrong. The problem is that, as we explained at the time, the replay process has focused on three feet down to the exclusion of the other ways to perform an act common to the game: “extend[ing] the ball forward, . . . tuck[ing] the ball away and turn[ing] upfield, or avoid[ing] or ward[ing] off an opponent.”
Anderson did not address, and was not asked to address, whether Likely had extended the ball forward or warded off an opponent. To overturn the ruling of a touchdown, the replay process requires (as the rules are written) clear and obvious evidence that Likely had done neither of those things.
“We can keep arguing about this for a long time,” Steve Mariucci said after Anderson explained the Likely ruling. “What is a football move?”
And then there was no discussion whatsoever about the other side to the argument. No mention of whether Likely had, or hadn’t, made a football move/act common to the game. More importantly (and more on that in a second), there was no reference to whether Likely had possession of the ball long enough to do so.
Anderson also made no effort to reconcile the replay ruling on the Aaron Rodgers “catch” with the Likely ruling, probably because Anderson and the rest of the league office know that the decisions cannot be reconciled. If Rodgers caught the ball, then Likely did, too.
Anderson instead addressed a play from Thursday night’s Falcons-Buccaneers game. The catch and fumble by Falcons running back Bijan Robinson.
“These plays are very, very similar, except for that third element,” Anderson said. “And so what you can see here is Bijan Robinson gets control of the ball, he gets two steps, and then what he’s able to do, because that left is one, the right is two, the left foot comes down again. That’s the third step, and then he loses the ball. So he’s completed all three elements of the catch process. That’s why this is a catch and in this case a fumble. Had Likely got that third step down while he maintained control of the ball because he was in the end zone, it would have been a touchdown because by rule then the ball would be dead in the end zone.”
Again, they’re focusing only on the third foot and ignoring the rest of the rule, both as to performing an act common to the game and having the time to do so.
Consider this, and watch the Robinson play at full speed, not in slow-motion. If Robinson had possession of the ball long enough to perform an act common to the game (by rule, take a third step among other things), didn’t Likely have possession of the ball long enough to perform an act common to the game?
Even if we ignore the fact that Likely was extending the ball and/or warding off an opponent (and it’s not clear and obvious he wasn’t), Likely had it long enough to, for instance, “tuck the ball away and turn upfield.” But Likely had no reason to do that, because: (1) he was in the end zone; and (2) he was trying to keep the ball away from a defender who was literally attached to his back and trying to knock out the ball.
Here’s the bottom line. Whoever is making the decisions about replay review in the league office (and many throughout the league don’t know who that is at any given moment) has decided to hinge the catch decision on getting three feet down, and to disregard the rest of the rule as it relates to performing an act common to the game, or having enough time to do so.
That’s the inescapable message, both from last week’s ruling and Anderson’s Sunday morning explanation of it. The league office has gone rogue as to the catch rule (and the replay standard), ignoring language that was adopted by a 75-percent supermajority vote of ownership.
At this point, the only way to fix the problem will be for the owners to take control of the situation, if necessary reminding the employees of the league office who writes the checks — and who cashes them.
Falcons Clips
On Thursday night, Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins did it again to the Buccaneers, beating them for the third straight time since signing with Atlanta. And it was another Thursday night masterclass, following last year’s franchise-record 509 passing yards with 373 and three touchdowns in a 29-28 win.
The latest string of Cousins starts wasn’t supposed to happen. He returned to the role of QB1 after the Falcons lost Michael Penix Jr. for the season. And while Cousins’s performances in seven 2025 games have been mixed, there’s something to be said for showing up under the lights against a team that is trying to win the division crown.
Here’s the question for Cousins and the Falcons. What happens next year?
Under the four-year deal Cousins signed in 2024, the Falcons owe Cousins $45 million in 2026. Already, $10 million of it is fully guaranteed.
It’s widely believed he’ll be released. With the guaranteed payment subject to offset, Cousins will likely make more than $10 million on the open market. Especially after Thursday night, during which he showed he still can perform at a high level. That would allow the Falcons to avoid the extra $10 million they’re already required to pay him on the fifth day of the 2026 league year.
He has already earned a bronze bust in the broken-bank Hall of Fame, with $321 million in career earnings through 2025. And he has proven to be a shrewd businessman, even though his first foray into free agency was unavoidable; the Commanders were willing to tag him twice, but they weren’t inclined to offer him a commensurate long-term deal.
Cousins opted for the Falcons in large part because they put multi-year financial security on the table, with $90 million fully guaranteed over two seasons. (The Vikings wanted to go year to year.) With the Falcons unlikely to pay him another $45 million, which would push his three-year haul to $135 million, he’ll likely be a free agent, for the third time.
Cousins will be hitting the market at a very good time. The supply of veterans with starting experience won’t meet the demand. Someone will consider making a run at the 37-year-old.
Teams that will (or at least could) be looking for a potential QB1 include the Jets, Steelers, Browns, Bengals (if Joe Burrow’s recent comments portend an exit from Cincinnati), Colts, Raiders, Saints, and Cardinals.
Then there’s the Vikings, who need a viable veteran alternative to J.J. McCarthy, in the event the cork never comes out of the bottle for him. Would they want to bring Cousins back? Would he be inclined to return?
It’s also possible he’ll stay in Atlanta under a reworked contract, especially with the jury still out on Penix, the eighth overall pick in the 2025 draft.
However it plays out, Cousins will likely get paid out another sizable contract. While it surely won’t be market level, Justin Fields got $20 million per year from the Jets in 2025. That should be the floor for Cousins, who may eventually creep toward $400 million in career earnings.
Falcons running back Bijan Robinson was already leading the NFL in yards from scrimmage this season before Thursday night, when he gained 93 rushing yards and 82 receiving yards and helped his team pull off an upset in Tampa Bay.
Robinson now has an NFL-high 1,858 yards from scrimmage with three games left in the season, and his head coach, Raheem Morris, says it’s a shame that such a great player isn’t heading for the playoffs.
“He’s the best player in the NFL. Sorry you guys won’t get a chance to watch him in the postseason,” Morris said. “He’s carrying everybody’s livelihood on his back.”
Robinson lost a fumble that set up a Buccaneers touchdown and gave Tampa Bay a 28-14 lead in the fourth quarter. That could have been very costly for the Falcons, but Morris said no one in Atlanta doubts Robinson, who scored a touchdown on the Falcons’ next possession to begin their comeback in a game they won 29-28.
The Falcons are 5-9 and already eliminated from playoff contention, but Robinson may be the NFL’s best running back, as he showed again on Thursday night.
As the fourth overall pick, Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts Sr. entered the league in 2021 with ridiculously high expectations. Despite becoming the first rookie tight end since Mike Ditka to generate 1,000-plus receiving yards as a rookie (Brock Bowers has since matched the feat), Pitts has failed to meet the bar that his draft pedigree and potential established.
That changed on Thursday night, with a prime-time breakout only four games away from his first crack at free agency: 11 catches, 166 yards, three touchdowns.
It was his first 100-yard game of the season, although in recent weeks he’d been getting closer and closer. In Week 13, Pitts had a then-season-high 82 yards on seven catches against the Jets. In Week 14, he gained 90 yards on six catches.
Also, the Week 15 game resulted in his first 100-yard receiving performance since December 26, 2021.
After last night, the past may not matter. He showed what he can do, under the right circumstances. And as Bill Walsh once said, if a guy can do something once, he can be coached to do it consistently.
So here’s the question. What will happen when Pitts becomes available? Will a team be sufficiently enthralled by last night’s showing that it shows him the kind of money most never dreamed he’d earn?
The Buccaneers, who witnessed it the hard way, may want to put him at the top of the wish list. If it turns out to be Mike Evans’s final year in Tampa, that money and cap space could go to Pitts.
Really, any team with a need at the position should consider Pitts. Any team without a need should evaluate him as a potential upgrade.
On Thursday night, everyone saw what Kyle Pitts can do. Of the 32 teams in the NFL, one of them likely will decide to pay him a lot of money in the hopes that he’ll do it again.
And again. And again.
Falcons running back Bijan Robinson has apologized for a comment he made during a postgame interview on Amazon Prime after Thursday night’s game over the Buccaneers.
Robinson used a social media post early Friday morning to address his use of the phrase “smear the queer” while answering a question about whether he learned his football moves while playing games backyard as a kid.
“Hey everyone I want to apologize for the insensitive comment I made in the broadcast, it was a football game we used to play as a kid but that’s not an excuse,” Robinson wrote on X.com. “I recognize the mistake and make sure to do better in the future. It was not reflective of my beliefs and I am so sorry to those I offended seriously!”
The Falcons came back to beat the Bucs 29-28 on Thursday night.
Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts had a career night against the Buccaneers on Thursday and he put up numbers that only a handful of other tight ends have matched in the process.
Pitts caught 11 passes for 166 yards and three touchdowns during the 29-28 comeback win. He’s the first tight end to pick up at least 150 yards while scoring three times since Shannon Sharpe in 1996. Per ESPN research, Kellen Winslow Sr., Todd Christensen, and Rich Caster are the only other tight ends to do the same since the AFL-NFL merger.
Pitts’ third touchdown came as he fell on his backside while going out of bounds and was subject to a lengthy review to see if his cheek hit the end zone before his elbow hit the sideline. It was called a score on the field, which brought the Falcons within 28-26 in the fourth quarter, and upheld after that review.
“I definitely thought I got the second foot down,” Pitts said, via Marc Raimondi of ESPN.com. “I didn’t know it was my cheek.”
The Falcons thought Pitts would have dominant nights a little more often when they drafted him fourth overall in 2021, but his performance has been lackluster for most of his time in Atlanta. He’s set for free agency this offseason and Thursday night’s performance will likely be a selling point as he looks for his next contract.
The Falcons trailed 28-20 with five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter when receiver Darnell Mooney fumbled. Six Buccaneers players surrounded the ball, and it looked like the Bucs were about to recover and that the Falcons’ best chance of a comeback had just been fumbled away.
Instead, Falcons center Ryan Neuzil, who was far behind the play at the time the ball came out, sprinted downfield, jumped into the pile and ended up with possession, a crucial fumble recovery that kept the Falcons’ drive alive, leading to a touchdown and ultimately a 29-28 win.
It was an extraordinary play from Neuzil, whose teammates and coaches said afterward that they couldn’t believe what he did.
“I jogged off the field, I said there’s no way we recovered that ball. I just jogged off. Someone said, ‘No, we might have it.’ I said, ‘How?’” Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins said after the game. “Our offensive line coach [Dwayne Ledford] preaches covering. So when the ball is thrown and the rush stops, you are to run forward. You don’t know where or why but you are to run forward. They coach it. They do it so much that when we’re in walk-through, just walking through plays, after every play they walk forward to train the muscle memory. Neuzil covered tonight. If you watch the tape, they do it a lot, more than most guys I’ve played with. When you cover like that, it saved the game. I’m so happy for Neuz making that play. It’s classic o-lineman to just do their job, not make it about them, and be in the right spot and make the play because they’re doing what they’re coached to do.”
Falcons coach Raheem Morris said Neuzil made exactly the kind of play he told his players before the game he needed them to make to find a way to win.
“Effort. Effort,” Morris said. “We talk about covering for our offensive line, you run down the field and do the things that’s required. To watch him do those things, finish and get the ball back for his football team. We talked before the game about playing for each other, and that is the absolute definition of playing for each other when you run down the field and you recover a fumble like that and you get the ball back and continue to give us a chance.”
Offensive linemen don’t get enough credit for their big plays. Neuzil deserves the praise he’s receiving for a huge play on Thursday night.
The Falcons beat the Buccaneers on Thursday night despite a stunning display of penalties, the likes of which the NFL had not seen in years.
Atlanta committed 19 accepted penalties for a total of 125 yards on Thursday night. That’s the most accepted penalties in an NFL game in nine years.
The last time a team committed more penalties than that was October 30, 2016, when the Raiders committed 23 accepted penalties. That game was also against the Buccaneers, and the Buccaneers also managed to find a way to lose that one, 30-24 in overtime, despite all their opponents’ miscues.
On Thursday night the Bucs committed just four accepted penalties, for 25 yards. But they lost 29-28 despite the huge advantage in penalty margin.
Morris was proud that his team, which has been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, fought hard to win, despite the penalties.
“We’ll clean up the penalties and do what we have to do, whatever that is,” Morris said.
Morris was seen screaming at a TV camera at the end of the game, and he said afterward that he was yelling about the penalties. He knows they were a problem for his team on Thursday night, but he also knows his team overcame a lot to get a big win.
The Buccaneers blew a key game on Thursday night. After the loss to the Falcons, quarterback Baker Mayfield accepted the blame for it.
“It falls on my shoulders,” Mayfield told reporters following the 29-28 defeat. “Can’t turn the ball over, can’t have that interception. And then, just gotta hit [Emeka Egbuka] in stride on that third down. Listen, you can say what you want about being up two scores and the defense right there, but we have to be better on offense, and it comes down to how I play. And this one’s gonna haunt me. This falls on my shoulders.”
Asked whether the issue related to decision making, Mayfield was clear on what he needed to do: “Make the throws. Make the throws.”
Up eight in the fourth quarter, Mayfield threw an interception to Falcons defensive back Dee Alford.
“It wasn’t even a disguise, you know,” Mayfield said. “It’s quarters coverage. He’s playing outside leverage, which is really not what he normally does on tape. You gotta go through the reads and if it’s not there, take the damn check down. And it’s plain and simple. This one’s, like I said, it’s gotta beat me up for a little bit.”
Mayfield also was asked about coach Todd Bowles’s message to the team.
“He hit the nail on the head, saying and questioning does it mean anything to the guys?” Mayfield said. “Like, ‘Does this hurt enough for you to actually make changes. To come in, do the work that you need to do, to do the things that we need to do as a team to get better, fix these things and win ball games?’ And he repeated it, and it really is as simple as that. We have talent. Talent doesn’t get you shit though. Doing the work and executing on game days does, and that’s — we didn’t do that today. Like I said, I did not do that.”
Mayfield said it’s not an issue with preparation but execution. He also acknowledged the possibility that it’s a matter of concentration in crunch time.
“I don’t know if it’s losing focus late in games,” Mayfield said. “You know, mine was just lack of execution. But I don’t know if it’s losing focus late in games. I mean, I can’t speak for the defense, but I can speak for the offense. I can speak for myself, and that was that was just execution on my part.”
The end result is that the 7-7 Buccaneers are not happy.
“We’re pissed off,” Mayfield said. “We expected to win that game. We want to win that game. Should be pissed off. And, like I said, when you’re up two scores and your offense has a chance to put the game away, and you don’t — obviously, people are gonna blame the defense, but it’s not the defense’s fault. It’s our fault. It’s my fault. And that’s that’s how I view it, and that’s how I’m gonna handle it.”
They can still get to the playoffs, if they handle their business.
“We have to win out, and we know that,” Mayfield said. “It’s — that’s as plain and simple as it is. We put ourselves in a position to have to do that. So if guys don’t handle that the right way, then we have a much deeper issue. But I don’t believe that we have a culture issue. We’ve just got to be able to translate the stuff that we prepare, we talk about, and do on a consistent basis. We’ve got to translate it to game day.”
The next game day comes in nine days, when they face the Panthers for the first of two meetings in the final three weeks of the season, with a visit to Miami in between.
Win them all, and tonight’s outcome will become a faded memory. Fail to deliver, and the Week 15 Thursday night could be haunting a lot more people than Baker Mayfield.
Todd Bowles is gonna end up with soap poisoning.
After Thursday night’s loss to the Falcons, during which the Buccaneers blew a 14-point, fourth-quarter lead to lose their second home game to an eliminated division rival only four days apart, Tampa Bay’s head coach let the expletives fly during his post-game press conference.
Asked what he tells the team in the locker room after a game like this, Bowles was blunt. And repeatedly profane.
“It’s inexcusable,” Bowles said. “We don’t make excuses. We — you gotta fucking care enough where the shit hurts. You gotta fucking care enough where the shit hurts. Gotta fucking mean something to you. It’s more than a job, it’s your fucking livelihood. How well do you know your job? How well can you do your job? You can’t sugar coat that shit. It was in-fucking-excusable. And there’s no fucking answer for it. There’s no excuse for it. That’s what you tell them in the locker room. Look in the fucking mirror.”
He’s right. The problem is that, the buck for the Bucs ultimately stops with him. Salary-cap consequences limit the number of players that can be dumped after a given season. There’s no cap charge for changing coaches.
But there’s still hope, for the Buccaneers and for Bowles. They can wake up, win out, secure the division, and get to the playoffs for the sixth straight year. Bowles’s ability to keep his current job may indeed be hinging on it.
