Giants miffed over blown call at end of Buccaneers game
The New York Giants fought and they clawed for four quarters on Monday night and although it wasn’t exactly pretty at times, they positioned themselves to tie the game and take it into overtime.
Ultimately however, Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were able to walk away victorious when officials picked up a flag on an obvious pass interference penalty at the end of the fourth quarter.
Bucs safety Antoine Winfield Jr. ran straight into Giants running back Dion Lewis before the ball arrived on a two-point conversion — it was clear as day. In fact, the officials saw it and threw the flag initially, but after gathering together and discussing it, they picked the flag up.
Guess they weren’t interested in overtime and just wanted to go home.
“I thought (the official) made the right call when he threw the flag. I’m not sure why it got picked up, we had a pretty good view. I know they can’t use the jumbotron to replay. We had a pretty clear view of that as well,” head coach Joe Judge told reporters after the game. “That’s all I’m going to say about the officiating.”
Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians, as you might expect, sided with the referees. He clearly enjoys the Tom Brady treatment.
“Well the ball hit Antoine in the back. To me there was no pass interference — I thought it was a good call,” Arians said. “I don’t know why it took so long, but he had his hands out, there was no contact and the ball hit him in the back.”
The ball, of course, hit Winfield in the back because he was all over Lewis long before the pass arrived. By every official definition in the NFL, that’s pass interference.
But compounding the issue is that Giants tight end Evan Engram was also held — darn near tackled — in the end zone on the same play. Even if the pass interference gets picked up, it should have been defensive holding, giving the Giants a second opportunity at the conversion.
The referees blew both calls.
“The side judge [Eugene Hall] had the flag thrown on the play and came to the down judge [Jerod Phillips] who was on that side of the goal line,” referee Brad Rogers said. “The communication between the side judge and the down judge was that the defender contacted the receiver simultaneously as the ball came in. And in order to have defensive pass interference, it has to be clearly early and hinder the receiver’s ability to make the catch.”
Although not as drastic, a similar call in the 2018 NFL Championship Game resulted in the NFL putting a greater emphasis on getting these calls right. Two years later, they still aren’t.
“I thought it was pass interference,” Daniel Jones said. “I was surprised when they picked it up. We’ll watch it and learn from it, I guess. See what they saw, but tough break.
“I was certainly surprised. You don’t see that often. I was surprised.”
It’s not the first time this season the Giants got the short end of the stick when it comes to a bad call, so they can expect yet another apology letter from the NFL later this week. They can add it to the growing pile.
