Sorry it had to be you, Rex!
Last night, ESPN got a rare must-see game between the Buffalo Bills and the Seattle Seahawks. While both teams are in the hunt on taking the next steps to make a bid at a post-season opportunity in a few weeks, the referees had two costly errors that blew Rex Ryan and his NY team a victory.
During the final seconds of the first half, the refs would no-call a roughing the kicker play for 15-yards, when Richard Sherman jumped off-sides and laid out Dan Carpenter – who could’ve been severely injured. Instead, a 5-yard off-side penalty was granted, leading to a referee standing over pigskin, until it’s 5 seconds were left on the clock – precious time wasted.
Carpenter, originally hit the 49-yarder; but due to the refs delaying the game, the Bills unfortunately had to immediately spike the ball. This took them back a few more yards. Dan then missed the 54-yard attempt, as Buffalo went back to their dressing rooms down 11 points, instead of one possession like they intended to.
But, that wasn’t it. On the final play of the game, the Bills had a chance to clinch the game, down just 6 points on 4th and goal, and another missed call would happen – involving Sherman once again.
The original roughing-the-kicker play
Buffalo quarterback, Tyrod Taylor, couldn’t find an open player in the end-zone, as some are citing Richard’s hit on wide out Walter Powell the main cause. While the hit was clean, this time, no flag was called before Taylor’s pass, which ultimately cost Coach Ryan a big game and maybe the season.
With that being said, players have no trust in the system Roger Goodell has been running from year’s past, including his mishandling of Tom Brady and DeflateGate. If top stars can’t trust referees, what makes you think fans will watch something – knowing that a blasphemous outcome like this could happen. At the end of the day, Seattle still won the game and Buffalo had a costly red-zone INT that affected the game, so we’ll give L.O.B. their deserved props.
However, on a national TV game (that people will watch), when ratings are the league’s biggest issue this year, not because of the Presidential Election, these types of missed calls cannot happen, ever.
The final play of the game
Let us know in the comments if you’ve given up on trusting the No Fun League.