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Bill Belichick says Sunday’s officiating was “unusual,” questions picking up flags

The Patriots beat the Bills on Sunday, but Bill Belichick wasn’t thrilled with the officiating.

Asked about the calls on Sunday, Belichick said referee Clete Blakeman and his crew had a surprising number of calls that either came in late or were changed after a discussion among the officials.

“You’d have to ask Clete about some of those, throwing flags, picking them up, throwing them late, whatever, it was kind of an unusual game the way some of the penalties were called all the way around,” Belichick said. “The obvious question is, if it gets picked up, why’d you throw it in the first place? I don’t know. You’d have to ask them that.”

The Patriots were flagged eight times for 59 yards, and the Bills were flagged nine times for 46 yards. When asked about the officiating Belichick didn’t complain about any individual calls, but on balance he didn’t seem to think the officials did their jobs particularly well.