With Sunday night’s game on the line, an official called the Bills for defensive pass interference. That same official wasn’t willing to do it twice in a row.
In both situations, interference happened. The first time, back judge Brad Freeman threw the flag. The second time, he did not.
Frankly, it’s hard to expect an official to throw that flag once. For whatever reason, the laundry lies a little deeper in the pocket when the game is on the line. We’ve seen it time and again. It takes an extra amount of courage — especially when potentially penalizing the home team — to throw that flag.
That’s not a defense of the decision. Pass interference absolutely should have been called. And the Bills absolutely should have kept interfering with the opportunity of any Giants pass catcher to catch the ball, since giving the Giants another untimed down is always better than giving up a touchdown. If the officials simply fail to call blatant interference only one time, it’s game over.
And, no, this isn’t the same as my recent argument that a player pulled down by the back of his collar on the way to the end zone should be awarded a touchdown. That’s a safety issue. Repeatedly grabbing a receiver’s jersey or arms otherwise preventing him from catching the ball is not something that introduces a significant risk of injury.
So, yes, the Bills should have kept interfering, as long as the Giants kept throwing. Eventually, Freeman wasn’t going to throw the flag.
Consider this angle. What do you think Freeman was hearing from the fans seated behind him in the end zone after he threw the first flag, the one that gave the Giants an untimed down at first and goal from the one? It only would have gotten worse if he had done it again.
Fans don’t care about the process; they care about the outcome. They’ll complain loudly about any flag thrown against their favorite team, regardless of whether the flag was deserved.
In the aftermath of seeing the play happen live, many don’t even realize whether it was a good call or a bad call. They just assume it was a bad call, because it went against their team.
That’s one of the human factors Freeman was facing. That’s why it was smart for the Bills to keep grabbing the player to whom the ball was going in the end zone. And that’s why, at some point, the Giants should have just tried to run it in.
This is a very real dynamic that impacts success or failure in such situations. Any mathematical formulas premised on thousands of iterations and treated by many as gospel truth need to be designed (if they even can be) to take into account the basic fact that, when it comes to untimed downs from the one, the defense should always mug the receiver, force the officials to throw a flag, and do it all over again.