Why Bill Belichick Thought Patriots-Bills Officiating Was ‘Unusual’

Bill Belichick didn’t criticize the officials after the Patriots’ dramatic last-minute victory over the Buffalo Bills. But he did note that the way they handled Sunday’s game was a bit odd.

Clete Blakeman’s crew called 19 penalties in New England’s 29-25 win at Gillette Stadium, including two that were declined. Eight of those were for pass interference, illegal contact or defensive holding in the secondary, and two more were for roughing the passer.

There also were multiple instances of refs throwing flags and then picking them up.

“You’d have to ask Clete about some of those,” Belichick said Monday in a video conference. “Throwing flags, picking them up, throwing them late and whatever. It was just kind of an unusual game the way some of the penalties were called all the way around.”

He added: “The obvious question is if (a flag) gets picked up, why’d you throw it in the first place? I don’t know. You’d have to ask them that.”

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Cornerback Jack Jones had a stronger reaction to the questionable officiating. He tweeted that his roughing the passer penalty against Josh Allen — which was one of the late flags Belichick referenced — was a “bad call.”

The Patriots were called for eight accepted penalties for 59 yards in the win. The Bills had nine for 46 yards, with five of theirs coming on third down.

“I think you can get a feel for how that goes,” Belichick said. “Sometimes it goes in that direction; sometimes it goes in the other direction (where) they kind of let the players play and aren’t calling a whole lot. That’s kind of the flow of the game. Every game’s different, and I think you see that in all sports. Balls and strikes or fouls in basketball or football — whatever it happens to be.

“There’s a certain way that the game’s being played that particular game, and it might be a little bit different from another game that basically the same players are playing. That’s one of the things that you have to recognize as a player, and as a coach, you try to point that out. ‘They’re calling it tight today,’ or they’re not.”

The 2-5 Patriots will look to build off Sunday’s win and climb back into contention in the AFC East when they visit the Miami Dolphins this Sunday.