Twitter Has Some Thoughts After Questionable No-Call In Patriots-Bills

FOXBORO, Mass. — Nothing like a potential missed call to unite football fans everywhere.

New England fans and even Patriots haters had some questions after the referees seemed to reverse a call on Buffalo Bills defensive end Jerry Hughes. A flag was thrown after Hughes grabbed Patriots quarterback Mac Jones on the Bills’ sideline, forcing the rookie quarterback to maneuver himself to avoid injury.

But the flag was picked up — before it was thrown again to hit Trent Brown with a 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.

You can watch the play here.

Twitter had plenty of questions:

Refs done f’d this drive up, took away massive chuck o yds, momentum. And a chance at 3, at the least. How in the 🌎 you can get away w/ grabbing a QB from behind so that he falls awkwardly waaaay OB is unequivocally against the rules. There’s no hitting-him-to-help-him provision
— Matt Chatham (@chatham58) December 26, 2021

So a QB gets hit out of bounds… Trent Brown jumps up and down… and the latter is a penalty.
— Jimmy Talks Pats (@JimmyTalksPats) December 26, 2021

Do you actually have to know the rules to be an official or can you just make things up as you go?
— BoSox Injection (@BoSoxInjection) December 26, 2021

The refs just interjected themselves into this game and then some. I don't know what Trent Brown said. But it must've been really bad to throw that flag. Wow. #Patriots
— Evan Lazar (@ezlazar) December 26, 2021

Trent Brown just got an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, likely because he is enormous and thus was deemed to be #too #scary for the official who threw the flag.
— Michael Hurley (@michaelFhurley) December 26, 2021