The Buffalo Bills victory over the New York Giants was ugly, to say the least. In case you missed it, I reported what Josh Allen had said immediately after the game, sharing the same sentiment as the Bills Mafia over the ugly performance.
Late in the contest, the Buffalo Bills were called on defensive pass interference, giving Tyrod Taylor and the New York Giants the ball on the one-yard line with 0:00 remaining on the clock.
Taylor dropped back and wasn't able to find his TE Darren Waller in the back of the endzone, giving Buffalo the victory. Taron Johnson was back in coverage and got a little handsy during the play, causing a media firestorm over the no-call.
Immediately after the contest, Johnson broke down what happened during the play and what he saw while dropping back in coverage. Regardless, he made a huge play in a big moment. NFL rules analyst Terry McAualay broke down why there was no flag called on the play,
McAulay began, "Certainly wouldn't be holding, the ball is in flight. Had the ball not been in flight, that jersey pull is an automatic foul. We understand that. Once the ball is in flight, now it changes what that pull means." He continued, "It has to significantly hinder the receiver. One can argue it did... One can argue it maybe didn't. That's the level you're looking at for a foul. Does that jersey grab significantly hinder the receiver's ability to make the play?"
Collinsworth provided his own take, "There's no question in my mind that it impacted his ability to make the catch."
McAulay finished, sharing a similar sentiment as Collinsworth, "That's perfectly reasonable Cris... I think it does as well... He can't get that hand up so it does become a foul for defensive pass interference at that point. The official obviously in real time didn't believe it significantly hindered him and didn't make the call."
At the end of the day, there was contact from both Johnson and Waller on the last play and the refs could've gone either way. The team played down to their competition and was potentially one missed call away from losing this game.
Onto next week.
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