Sunday, October 24, 2010

The Bills are 0-6

The overtime loss against the Ravens was painful. Part of it was that the Bills put up a great effort on the road against one of the better teams in the league. But the bigger part was that the officials were rooting hard for the Ravens.

Flacco lost a fumble that was recovered by the Bills. It was rightly reviewed and overturned. Spiller fumbled soon after, a play that was close enough to review, but wasn't. Then a clear interception by Reggie Corner was inexplicably overturned upon review. Apparently, his second foot came down on Anquan Boldin's leg and not the ground, which I guess doesn't count. But Corner's butt hit in bounds before he slid out. It should have been called an interception, a blown call that cost the Bills the game.

The next play was also reviewed and a dubious catch was overturned in the Ravens favor despite no conclusive evidence. The Bills fought back, even after the avalanche of points and bad reviews. Buffalo managed to get the game into overtime thanks to a long Rian Lindell field goal.

In overtime, the Bills were driving. Shawn Nelson caught a pass and his forward momentum was clearly stopped. The Ravens predictably held Nelson up and stripped the ball. Not only did the refs err by calling it a fumble, but the play was never reviewed. The booth consistently reviewed plays that could help the Ravens and overturned three calls in their favor. Meanwhile, two plays that went against the Bills should have been reviewed and weren't. It was a bad day for the replay booth and the head referee.

That the game was stolen from the Bills overshadowed Ryan Fitzpatrick, Stevie Johnson, and Lee Evans great play.

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