NFL admits it screwed Buffalo 15 months after-the-fact

[UConn James]

7 hours ago, Chandler#81 said:

Idk if making referees full time will help this menace, but something drastic has to change! Overall, officiating is terrible and unacceptable.

 

BASTARDS!🤬

Maybe especially after the NHL ref got caught on a hot mic that a penalty he called was small-time but that he just wanted to give that team one.... Reffing in EVERY sport needs to get more consistent. Such a 💩y thing where make-up calls, most-favored-player/team status, and terrible judgment calls can’t be questioned (and when PI was reviewable, refs gave everyone a HUGE 🖕🏼).

[HurlyBurly51]

7 hours ago, Chandler#81 said:

Idk if making referees full time will help this menace, but something drastic has to change! Overall, officiating is terrible and unacceptable.

 

BASTARDS!🤬

I thought the replacement refs were better.

[Utah John]

Several points:

-- The Saints got screwed in their game against the Rams FAR worse than the Bills got screwed on the Cody Ford block.

-- The Ford block was NOT a blind-side hit.  Ford was in front and to the side of the defender.  The defender had every opportunity to see Ford.  The defender ran into Ford more than Ford ran into him.

-- The second-half kickoff referee invention was worse than the Ford call.

-- The Bills would have won on a previous play if (1) three of them had bothered to block one defender on the Josh Allen sweep, or (2) the defender who evaded those blocks and who tackled Allen with an illegal helmet to helmet hit, had been penalized.

-- The Bills would have won if Milano had sacked Watson, instead of bouncing off of him, on the play where Watson's short pass got run almost to the end zone, setting the game winning field goal.  

 

I do not agree that by losing this game, the Bills were motivated to get better.  It was clear all season that we needed better WRs, and Beane would have made the Diggs trade whether we had won that game or not.  Also, there were Bills on that team who weren't on the team the next year, and they deserved a chance to play again.

[Bermuda Triangle]

6 hours ago, Royale with Cheese said:

I’ll find the thread!

Please do.  I'd love to see it.

[BarleyNY]

5 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

That's because it's not AT ALL an admission that it was called wrong..........they called the play the exact same way as they had called it all season.

 

It's simply an amendment to how they want it called going forward..........giving the official leeway to not make an auto-call when a blocker throws a less-than-full shoulder into a blindsided defender.

 

But it would be stupid to assume that you won't get a penalty for it now.........more often than not the blindsided defender is in a very poor position with regard to making the tackle...........so without that very broad definition of a blindside hit......defenders will just be taught to embellish the hit and draw the flag.

 

The bottom line is that if you are in position to throw your shoulder into an unwitting player then you are capable of making a less violent block.

 

The same people who b*tched about this were crying like babies when career long cheap-shot artist Aaron Williams had his bubble gum and popsicle sticks spilled on the field by a traditionally legal but dangerous block by Jarvis Landry.    

 

You can't have it both ways, ladies.😘

As I said at the time, it was a bad rule properly enforced.  Now it’s a better rule.

[DabillsDaBillsDaBills]

The Bills and Ford need to make a huge stink about the fine. The ref making a bad call in real time is really unfortunate, but that's just part of sports. Someone at the NFL head office reviewed the play and determined not only that the correct call was made, but that it was an egregious foul that warranted a fine. Whoever made that decision was clearly retaliating against the Bills and Ford for complaining about the call after the game. That person needs to face consequences over the decision to fine Ford.  

[DabillsDaBillsDaBills]

6 minutes ago, BarleyNY said:

As I said at the time, it was a bad rule properly enforced.  Now it’s a better rule.

 

That's wrong on every level.

 

The rule was NOT properly enforced at the time, and it is NOT changing now. The "forcible contact" language was always included in the rule, and the ref/NFL ignored that part of the rule when they made the call on the field and decided to fine Ford after the fact. This video is the NFL clarifying that what Ford did should not be considered to be "forcible" and therefore is not a penalty.  

[BarleyNY]

5 minutes ago, DabillsDaBillsDaBills said:

 

That's wrong on every level.

 

The rule was NOT properly enforced at the time, and it is NOT changing now. The "forcible contact" language was always included in the rule, and the ref/NFL ignored that part of the rule when they made the call on the field and decided to fine Ford after the fact. This video is the NFL clarifying that what Ford did should not be considered to be "forcible" and therefore is not a penalty.  

What the NFL considers “forcible contract” has obviously changed.  The enforcement of the Ford penalty was in line with how the penalty was enforced during the rest of that season.  They are now making the threshold for what qualifies more reasonable.

[Chandler#81]

Josh Allen says

 

[DabillsDaBillsDaBills]

6 minutes ago, BarleyNY said:

What the NFL considers “forcible contract” has obviously changed.  The enforcement of the Ford penalty was in line with how the penalty was enforced during the rest of that season.  They are now making the threshold for what qualifies more reasonable.

 

I don't see how any reasonable person could watch a replay of what Ford did and say that it was "forcible contact". What Ford did is just about the polar opposite of "forcible" on a football field. 

 

Do you have any examples of blind side block penalties that were called that had this level of contact? 

[BarleyNY]

4 minutes ago, DabillsDaBillsDaBills said:

 

I don't see how any reasonable person could watch a replay of what Ford did and say that it was "forcible contact". What Ford did is just about the polar opposite of "forcible" on a football field. 

 

Do you have any examples of blind side block penalties that were called that had this level of contact? 

I remember seeing the blindside penalty called more than once during that season and thinking they were ridiculous calls.  Likewise I felt that way about Ford’s.  But it just seemed to be how the refs were told to call it at the time - and therefore it was in line with what one would expect.  Coaches and players have to adjust to how the game is called and, ridiculous or not, we didn’t. 

[GoBills808]

9 minutes ago, BarleyNY said:

I remember seeing the blindside penalty called more than once during that season and thinking they were ridiculous calls.  Likewise I felt that way about Ford’s.  But it just seemed to be how the refs were told to call it at the time - and therefore it was in line with what one would expect.  Coaches and players have to adjust to how the game is called and, ridiculous or not, we didn’t. 

They had a chance to call it on the Watson TD that he ran in, I think it was the RB who threw a block that should have been called if they were going by Ford's as an example but nope

 

EDIT it was on the first 2pt conversion after the TD

Edited April 10, 2021 by GoBills808

[BADOLBILZ]

48 minutes ago, BarleyNY said:

As I said at the time, it was a bad rule properly enforced.  Now it’s a better rule.

 

 

It's a good rule that was too broadly defined.   But that was how it was enforced all season.  

 

Cody Ford struggled with mental errors all season, this was just another.

 

All he had to do was set a screen.   By throwing his shoulder into the defender he unnecessarily put himself in that seasons range of penalty.  

 

For people who think it's a bad rule........consider this:

 

The Bills just invested a second round pick in AJ Epenesa........he came out of games twice last year with head injuries...........how much of a blow would that be to the team if his career were ended by one of these blindside blocks that the league is wisely trying to rid themselves of?

[BarleyNY]

17 minutes ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

It's a good rule that was too broadly defined.   But that was how it was enforced all season.  

 

Cody Ford struggled with mental errors all season, this was just another.

 

All he had to do was set a screen.   By throwing his shoulder into the defender he unnecessarily put himself in that seasons range of penalty.  

 

For people who think it's a bad rule........consider this:

 

The Bills just invested a second round pick in AJ Epenesa........he came out of games twice last year with head injuries...........how much of a blow would that be to the team if his career were ended by one of these blindside blocks that the league is wisely trying to rid themselves of?

That’s a better way to say it

[MJS]

18 minutes ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

It's a good rule that was too broadly defined.   But that was how it was enforced all season.  

 

Cody Ford struggled with mental errors all season, this was just another.

 

All he had to do was set a screen.   By throwing his shoulder into the defender he unnecessarily put himself in that seasons range of penalty.  

 

For people who think it's a bad rule........consider this:

 

The Bills just invested a second round pick in AJ Epenesa........he came out of games twice last year with head injuries...........how much of a blow would that be to the team if his career were ended by one of these blindside blocks that the league is wisely trying to rid themselves of?

Well, I agree with you for the most part. I think it was dumb of Ford to do that. All he has to do is extend his arms and push the guy. Or even just run and try to get in the way.

 

I felt like it was consistently called within the definition of the rule, albeit a ticky-tack call. I see the point of some people who say it wasn't "forcible" contact, but that's too much of a gray area to expect the officials to say one thing is forcible and one thing is not.

[GoBills808]

22 minutes ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

It's a good rule that was too broadly defined.   But that was how it was enforced all season.  

 

It wasn't even enforced consistently in the same game.

[Utah John]

Ford was in front of the guy, so how this is considered "blind side" is a mystery.

[Doc]

I’d like to see any blindside block called where the defender had a good view of the offensive player coming at him and didn’t get laid out.

[H2o]

They should pay him back double of what he was fined, hoes.

[TBBills]

13 minutes ago, H2o said:

They should pay him back double of what he was fined, hoes.

Should be like a double donation to the players charity.