Still slow burning over bad calls in Texans' game

[Inigo Montoya]

My take on that game was that the Bills and the Texans were teams with that were pretty evenly matched talent wise.  The game was going to be a coin toss from the start.  Looking at the game there were multiple factors that swung the game to the Texans.  Every bad call in the game went against the Bills.  Change a single one of those bad calls and the Bills win. Here are the refs "Greatest Hits" of the game.  There wasn't a single bad call against the Texans.  I'm not claiming there was a conspiracy by the refs,  just horrendous officiating.

 

Before everyone starts the what about Allen, what about Daboll, what about the second half defense arguments, if anyone of these calls goes the other way, the Bills win the game.  Once again, not saying there was a conspiracy,  just the the Bills had four horrible calls go against them in the game, each one a critical call that screwed the Bills and had a clear effect on the outcome of the game. 

 

The first bad call was the officials disregarding the letter of the rule to apply "common sense" to the touch back / non touch back at the beginning of the second half.   It reminds me of all those plays where the showboating player drops the ball at the one yard line when he starts to celebrate  his TD too early and the officials just give him the TD anyways because he meant to score a TD.  Wait a minute...  It's the first time since I've been watching football for decades that I have ever seen an officiating crew decide to ignore a rule as written because the player didn't mean to violate the rule.  Watch for yourself, the player moves backwards with his arms at waste level behind him.  That is apparently the new signal for a touch back in the NFL.   Does anyone think that if he had instead run the ball out of the end zone on that play the ref would have called a penalty on him?  The end zone official, the one 10 feet from the player ruled that he never gave himself up.  The video shows the play and goes in to detail on the touch back rule and how it was ignored in this instance.

 

 

 

The second bad call is the non call delay of game on the 3rd and 18 in overtime that the Texans end up converting...  https://larrybrownsports.com/football/referees-miss-delay-of-game-penalty-texans/531492  The link discusses this in greater detail.

 

 

 

The third bad call is Zach Cunningham's egregious helmet to helmet on Josh Allen in OT.  That missed call would have put the Bills inside the Texans 30 with a 1st down...

 

 

The fourth bad call, and the grand daddy of them all, was the "illegal crack back / blindside block by Cody Ford.   Unlike the second half kick off non-touch back where the refs intuit the intent of the player, here the officials decide to apply the literal interpretation of the rule meticulously even though this is clearly not the type of "blind side" hit the rule was written to prevent.  If this is a "blind side" hit then there is one of these "blind side' hits on just about every running play in the game.  Here is a link to a video that shows the play from every angle.  There is also the cross field angle which truly shows just how horrible the call was.  I recommend watching the entire video or you can just fast forward to the 1:30 mark to see the cross field angle.  I guess Ford was just supposed to stand there an let the DE run past him to tackle Allen..  It still makes me sick.  This would play have put the bills in field goal range in OT again.

 

Edited April 12, 2020 by Inigo Montoya

[ThurmasThoman]

Yeah it hurt pretty bad at the time, but then Kobe died and Corona happened and honestly, I've forgotten all about the game.

We'll get em next year.

[CommonCents]

Elsa where are you? Help this man. 

[PetermansRedemption]

I can’t really find the words to describe that game other than “it stings”. It was one of those games where everything had to go wrong to lose it, and everything went wrong. Poor officiating and poor play in the late 3rd quarter and 4th quarter. If the Bills continue to play well or the officials officiate then this is a Bills W. 

[Malazan]

 

[whatdrought]

On the bright side, the Texans got embarrassed the next week and are now a laughing stock. 

[Rock-A-Bye Beasley]

It was heartbreaking. But let’s not forget the mistakes made by the coaching staff. Also, Josh threw a pick six that was dropped by Houston. 
 

I feel like the team plays better when the score is very close or they are slightly behind. 
 

there’s no denying that when McDermott’s Bills are leading they act like they are trying to run the clock out no matter how much time is remaining 

[DJB]

No question Bills got screwed by a bunch of calls. But honestly we should be able to put ourselves up enough that it won't affect us. 

 

On to 2020

[The Red King]

If we could have defended those 2pt conversions...

[Aussie Joe]

The Bills were burned bad, but 16-0 up against an average team should have gone on and won the game..

 

Definitely a bad way to end their best season in 20 years...

 

Hopefully lessons have been learnt for next time..Not really a lot of point stewing over it three months later..

[Doc]

There was also the play in OT I believe where what hit Josh after a pass and lands with his full weight on him.

[WhickedWilliams]

DeAndre Hopkins 

[gobills404]

On the second one, their LG also got away with an egregious hold on Oliver after the delay of game wasn't called.

[Orlando Buffalo]

As you state it is not a conspiracy- which would mean an intent to sway the game- it is simply the NFL is not concerned with terrible officiating. But the officiating in the game on both the missed helmet to helmet and then the blind side hit are the definition of being incompetent and then "overofficious"

[The Dean]

Still slow burning?

 

Quick advice : STOP!

 

Anything positive coming from it?  If not, why bother?

[njbuff]

1 hour ago, Chemical said:

It was heartbreaking. But let’s not forget the mistakes made by the coaching staff. Also, Josh threw a pick six that was dropped by Houston. 
 

I feel like the team plays better when the score is very close or they are slightly behind. 
 

there’s no denying that when McDermott’s Bills are leading they act like they are trying to run the clock out no matter how much time is remaining 

 

Siran Neal dropped a pick six too. So, it evens out.

[Success]

Whenever I read any fanbase's message board after a big playoff loss, officials are generally a focus. There are always calls that fans point to as "the reason."  I've even seen Pats fans do this, which seems impossible, since they have gotten every favorable call since Tom Brady arrived there.

 

I'm aware of this quality in myself. I have the homer gene - I always feel like we get the short end of the stick.

 

All that said, the Houston game was egregious.  I saw no indication that it all "evened out."  The calls against us were horrendous, and game-changing.

 

Those calls affect perception, and legacies.  Every time I see other fans talk about Allen, it's about the "meltdown" in the Houston game. But he did what the greats do - he overcame his mistakes to lead the Bills on what SHOULD have been a game-winning drive, before a phantom call ended it.

 

I fully endorse the OP.

 

[BuffaloBillies]

I bet $500 on Hou to "hedge my happiness." Would have gladly lost the cash, but at least winning $500 took a little sting out of it. I will do that moving forward too.

[Don Otreply]

It was a massive conspiracy of biblical proportions, no matter what Inigo says... 

 

yah, it sucked, ya we got screwed, but we hopefully learned not to let that happen again, one can only hope that that game sticks in the craw of the whole team, and they learn to punish their opponents mercilessly for four quarters of every game. 
 

Nice write up Inigo?
 

Go Bills!!!

[Doc Brown]

That ping pong escape by Watson will always be a nightmare I won't be able to get out of my mind.  Right up there with the Bryce Brown Chiefs fumble, the McKelvin Pats fumble, the OT TD drop by Stevie, the MCM, the pass interference call on a Hal Mary against the Pats, wide right, the Harmon drop, etc...The perils of being a Bills fan.