This might not come as much of a surprise, but the Buffalo Bills are not pleased about Kelvin Benjamin’s overturned touchdown catch in Sunday’s loss to the New England Patriots.
Benjamin had a catch that, by most accounts, looked like a touchdown reception in a tie game just seconds before halftime. But the folks in the replay center in New York disagreed and said the receiver didn’t have both feet in bounds while fully possessing the ball, and had the call reversed.
Players were candid about their anger regarding the call, while the explanation the official gave following the game did not do much to clear things up. So when given a chance in a radio appearance on WGR 550 in Buffalo to offer his take on the call, Bills owner Terry Pegula was far from pleased.
“They obviously weren’t looking at the same television the rest of the country was looking at, were they?” Pegula said, via ESPN. “You know what, you can probably find somebody in this country that disagrees (with the catch), and I know one guy would be (NFL senior vice president of officiating) Al Riveron sitting in New York City.
“But everybody I talked to — and they’re not Bills fans and they’re not necessarily anti-Patriots — they’re all baffled by that call, which just wasn’t consistent with what replay (should be).”
And after hearing the owner’s comments, coach Sean McDermott backed up Pegula later on Tuesday afternoon.
McDermott: “I support Terry Pegula and his statements that were made about Kelvin Benjamin’s play. I have spoken with the league about this issue and I’m still at a loss.” pic.twitter.com/6Jnq1Bbqm0
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) December 26, 2017
In the midst of his tirade, Pegula began to criticize the replay process as a whole, which certainly has been kind to the Patriots the past two games.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but we have to fix it. And I’m not saying that as the owner of the Bills; I’m saying that as a football fan. We can’t have stuff like this happening in our league,” Pegula said.
While the call still is perplexing to a degree, it’s worth nothing the Bills ultimately ended up being dismantled by three touchdowns in the 37-16 loss.
