Buffalo Rumblings
The Bills’ latest loss to the Chiefs can be blamed on plenty of situations, but one play in particular has NFL fans hot under the collar.
There are plenty of reasons why the Buffalo Bills lost their latest playoff matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs. It’s quite possible that the reason Josh Allen isn’t playing in his first Super Bowl has everything to do with the Bills’ inability to convert situations requiring one yard or less.
In total, Buffalo’s offense finished one for five in such tries. Allen and the offense now hold a dubious distinction, becoming the first team in the NGS era (since 2016), to face the most stuffed to-go tries in a single game.
If that weren’t damning enough, the evening wouldn’t have been complete without a very controversial officiating decision. With the ball on offense and driving for points in the fourth quarter, Allen and company again found themselves faced with a 4th & 1 situation.
As they’d done so four times before, they lined up to run their Shnowplow, only to be denied. Were they really short of the line to gain? Plenty of replay angles left things as indeterminate, until the overhead camera footage was shown.
As one might have expected, having to review against the made call of “short of the line to gain,” head referee Clete Blakeman got on his mic to announce that after further review (which this time included the NY office), the call on the field stood.
Chiefs ball.
Well, plenty of people and companies have taken some exception to the call, the review, and the decision. Notably, there’s this tweet from Lasik.com:
That right, a corporation founded to perform lasik eye surgery has found itself in the conversation about NFL officiating, and in a game involving the Chiefs no less. Take what you may from Sunday’s defeat, and especially this call.
Give yourself 24 hours to stew in it, but understand that a lot of people have taken notice of the awful officiating this season.And no, fans shouldn’t have to learn to accept this as the new normal.
It’s time to correct the issue. It’s likely the NFL won’t take action until the situation hits their wallets. The Bills didn’t lose the game because of this call, but it sure feels like the complexion of the game shifted as a result of deficient officiating.
The league needs to leverage the NGS chip in the football. Add a GPS chip if needed. The NFL must fix the perceived impropriety and restore the integrity of the game.
Sports fans have come to accept that their team is either going to win or lose (or tie sometimes), but all anyone is asking for is adequate officiating and people who pride themselves in doing that work in front of millions.
