Bills angry after overtime loss to Eagles: ‘Officials aren’t being held accountable’

Bills angry after loss to Eagles: ‘Officials aren’t being held accountable’

PHILADELPHIA – Never once in my career, at least not that I can recall, have I ever written a column trashing an officiating performance.

Until now.

The Buffalo Bills didn’t lose Sunday specifically because of referee Shawn Hochuli’s crew. They had prime chances to upset the Philadelphia Eagles and nab a victory to return a wayward season back on the playoff track.

Bills tailback James Cook dropped a would-be touchdown pass in the first quarter. Proud safeties Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer let a guy with six catches score a devastating fourth-quarter touchdown on third-and-15. The defense failed to protect leads with 1:52 left in the fourth quarter and 5:52 remaining in overtime. Tyler Bass missed two field goals.

But, like a Keith Moon drum solo, the NFL’s part-time officials relentlessly thumped the Bills in a soul-bruising, 37-34 defeat.

By halftime, the Bills already had been penalized 10 times (one fewer than their worst game all season and three away from matching their worst game in eight years) for 75 yards. Miraculously, they were docked only once for 5 yards in the second half and overtime.

The Eagles’ second penalty, meanwhile, came on their final possession of the fourth quarter. They finished with four penalties for 30 yards.

For only the sixth time in Bills history, they amassed at least 170 yards rushing and 330 yards passing. They had been undefeated in such games, as one would expect.

But winning is virtually impossible when officials make recurring, cockamamie decisions.

Poyer didn’t bring up officiating when speaking with me about what went wrong. He bemoaned the defense not being able to close out the reigning NFC champs despite two late leads. Then, I asked him what role officiating plays in winning and losing.

“A lot. A lot. A lot,” said Poyer, a longtime Bills captain. “It seems like it’s been like that all season. Nothing’s being done about it. Officials aren’t being held accountable for their calls or no-calls. Players are getting fined during the week for silly stuff.

“It doesn’t seem like, I don’t know … It’s not an excuse, but it’s just the way the game is being played this year. Doesn’t seem like a whole lot of accountability for the officials.”

The Bills’ season remains viable, but barely. They enter their bye week at 6-6, three spots out of the playoff picture and holding precious few tiebreakers because of their lousy conference record. Their next game is against the Kansas City Chiefs in Arrowhead Stadium.

Yet anything still feels possible in the murky AFC. The Bills haven’t shown a hint of quit, not even as pressure and injuries accumulate. They’ve seen teammates driven out of Highmark Stadium in ambulances, but there’s only so much a team can overcome.

“You need luck on your side and some great referees making better calls,” Bills edge rusher Leonard Floyd said with a side-eye grin.

I asked the eighth-year pro if he’d like to elaborate.

“It was s—–,” Floyd blurted. “But I ain’t going to go there. We should’ve won.”

I’m not a conspiracy theorist, although bad officiating sours many on sports. People commit their time, money and emotions to watching games in their free times and too often come away feeling cheated. Add another layer of disgust for those who’ve wagered, which the NFL constantly entices their fans to do.

Philadelphia is 5-0 with Hochuli’s crew and has covered the spread each time.

Bills coach Sean McDermott declined to comment when asked to assess the officiating Sunday, but he gave a glimpse into his thinking on a particular play that stalled the game and his offense right before halftime.

On second-and-goal from Philly’s 3-yard line, linebacker Hasson Reddick caught Josh Allen and nearly slung him to the grass. Right before Allen’s right elbow hit the ground, he released the ball for what he thought should be an incomplete pass. Many watching thought Reddick should have been flagged for a horse collar tackle.

Neither happened. Hochuli and his crew huddled and eventually ruled intentional grounding only.

Josh Allen may need a new jersey sheesh pic.twitter.com/USIY0atiEd

— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) November 26, 2023

“He’s responsible for where the ball goes given that he started his throwing motion after he was contacted,” Hochuli told a pool reporter after the game. “So we didn’t feel like the ball was in the vicinity or the area of an eligible receiver.”

The Bills believe receiver Gabriel Davis was close enough.

“They said that Gabe was not in the area,” McDermott said. “From the information I got, Gabe was in the area.”

Hochuli explained the decision not to call the horse collar was because it was deemed Reddick’s “force was from the front of the collar and what pulled him down was not from the back. So that’s pretty much it. We felt that he was pulled down from the front of the jersey and collar.” True enough, Allen’s collar was stretched and torn in front, likely influencing Hochuli’s decision to swallow his whistle on the call.

Rather than a likely touchdown, Buffalo tried a 34-yard field goal. Bass’ kick was blocked. No points.

An earlier non-call that irked Bills fans would have extended a drive. On third-and-8 from his 41, Allen threw 19 yards downfield to Trent Sherfield on a crossing route. Eagles cornerback Darius Slay clearly made contact before the ball arrived. Interference should have given Buffalo a first down at Philly’s 40. Buffalo punted instead.

“It’s the game that we play,” Sherfield said. “The refs have a job to do, and I have a job to do. I’m not here to critique anybody. I think there’s always going to be some missed calls every single game.

“I don’t expect them to be perfect, but I guess today it just didn’t go our way with some of the calls that we had. It is what it is.”

A subjective call — unsurprisingly after 66 minutes of watching these officials work — went Philly’s way while Buffalo led by three points in overtime. On second-and-3 from Buffalo’s 39, Jalen Hurts threw to star receiver A.J. Brown, who had the ball in his mitts and got his feet down seemingly long enough to take possession before linebacker Tyrel Dodson knocked it to the ground for a game-ending Buffalo recovery. But the pass was ruled incomplete, and the ball was ready to be snapped so fast that NFL video replay officials couldn’t have properly scrutinized whether it was a fumble.

What beef does Sean Hochuli’s crew have against the Bills?

— Andrew Brandt (@AndrewBrandt) November 26, 2023

Rest assured, the Bills committed several obvious penalties that caused damage.

In the first quarter, back-to-back false starts from right tackle Spencer Brown and center Mitch Morse turned a third-and-6 into a third-and-16, leading to a Sam Martin punt that should have given Philly possession at its own 12, but a Siran Neal facemask penalty moved them forward a chunk. On the Eagles’ ensuing possession, cornerback Rasul Douglas was called for defensive holding on a third-and-10 incompletion, defensive tackle Jordan Phillips jumped across the line before the Eagles could Brotherly Shove on fourth-and-1 and defensive tackle Ed Oliver was flagged for illegal hands to the face to set up first-and-goal from the 1 and Hurts’ TD plunge.

That was six Buffalo penalties for 37 yards within just 5:30 of game clock.

GO DEEPER

Bills observations: Josh Allen’s vintage day vs. Eagles deserves much better

The NFL’s margin of error is too minuscule to overcome such repeated missteps, and the officials’ subjective errors made matters plain disgusting for the Bills.

“At the end of the day, you have to take the officials out of it,” McDermott said. “That’s what you’ve got to do if you’re going to play.”

Buffalo must be damn near perfect the rest of the way to beat not only a daunting homestretch schedule, but also — if this holds up — the folks in stripes.

“The rest of the season is do or die,” Floyd said. “Everybody’s got to step up the intensity, the overall want-to. You’ve got to rise to another level to get where we want.

“Momentum’s got to shift. All 11 guys have to sacrifice, whatever it takes to get the win, no mental errors from nobody.”

That’s a healthy attitude. The Bills have five games to play regardless of whether they get a fair shake from the officials. Players and coaches may as well concentrate on all they control and not waste energy on fickle arbiters.

Yet for the rest of us, on atrocious days like these, it’s easy to feel like this supposedly enjoyable endeavor is a mere waste of time.

(Photo: Kevin Sabitus / Getty Images)

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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