The Bills lost 37-16 to the Patriots on Sunday, so more than one play would have needed to go differently for the result to change.
For a good chunk of the game, however, it looked like the decision to overturn what was initially ruled to be a Kelvin Benjamin touchdown catch would loom large. Benjamin made a catch in the back corner of the end zone with two seconds to play in the first half, but the replay review led to the call being overturned because, per head of officiating Alberto Riveron, Benjamin didn’t have possession with two feet down in bounds.
Riveron never said it was “clear and obvious” that the call should be overturned in a tweet and didn’t use that standard in a video posted on social media explaining the decision. Referee Craig Wrolstad backed up his boss after the game and did say it was “clear and obvious” that Benjamin didn’t make the catch with his feet down in bounds.
“I think we looked at the angle where we had a foot drag early before he had control, and then we looked at when he had control and then we went back again to look at the feet,” Wrolstad said to a pool reporter. “It was determined clearly that he was not able to get his second foot down after he had control.”
Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor said, via Ben Volin of the Boston Globe, after the game that it was a “horrible” call and that an official told him that the touchdown should have stayed on the board. Coach Sean McDermott agreed with that take.
“I saw Kelvin’s catch before halftime as a touchdown. I’m at a loss how a play like that can be overturned,” McDermott said after the game.
The loss didn’t eliminate the Bills from the playoffs, giving them plenty of reason to work their way past any bad feelings quickly and get ready for a game they have to win against the Dolphins in Week 17 while hoping that help arrives before the clock strikes midnight on 2017 and their season.
