Profootballdisc

No, that was yet another mistake by the officiating crew. The replay review failed to realize that they should have reviewed the ruling on the field. When McDermott called a TO (hoping they would realize that the play should be reviewed), they did in fact decide to review the play, but only after McDermott called a TO. Had they decided to review the play prior to McDermott’s TO, replay review would have buzzed the referee and informed him that they were reviewing the play, and Buffalo’s TO wouldn’t have been taken and announced on the field. Bottom line, they made 4 mistakes on 1 play; 1.) The refs on the field failed to see that Pascal had gotten up before he was touched and then attempted to advance the ball before fumbling, so they ruled him down by contact. 2.) The replay review failed to realize that the call on the field should have been reviewed, forcing McDermott to call a TO before Rivers hurriedly snapped the ball. 3.) They failed to overturn the ruling on the field when all visual evidence clearly shows that; Pascal got up before he was touched and attempted to advance the ball, the ball was fumbled before he was tackled again, the ball came out prior to him being down, and the Bills clearly recovered the fumble. 4.) The explanation by the referee that the Bills wouldn’t be charged a TO because the replay review initiated the TO was incorrect. Replay review clearly wasn’t initiated prior to the TO or that same ref who gave the explanation on field would have been made aware and not stated that Buffalo had called a TO. Since coaches cannot challenge a ruling within the final 2 minutes, that time out shouldn’t have been returned to Buffalo. The fact that the officiating crew made the mistake which led to the TO being called is irrelevant. Nothing about that ruling was correct. Nothing. They got the initial ruling on the field wrong, they failed to review it prior to the TO, they ruled not to overturn the call when clear and obvious visual evidence showed that the ball was fumbled and recovered by Buffalo, and they returned the TO to Buffalo when they shouldn’t have. They are just lucky that their bad officiating didn’t ultimately cost Buffalo the game, but it could have.