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The Buffalo Bills (6-6) suffered a crushing 37-34 overtime loss to the Philadelphia Eagles (10-1) on Sunday, November 26.
Perhaps the most frustrating part of the Bills defeat were the highly questionable calls, or lack thereof, from Shawn Hochuli’s officiating crew. One of the most egregious missed calls happened with 1:25 left in the second quarter. Eagles linebacker Haason Reddick ripped the front of Bills quarterback Josh Allen‘s jersey in his attempt to tackle him before bringing him down by grabbing the back collar of the jersey. Allen let go of the ball before hitting the ground.
The rules define Reddick’s move as a horse collar, but he wasn’t called for the foul. Instead, Allen was slapped with an intentional grounding penalty. A few minutes earlier, Eagles cornerback Darius Slay tackled Bills wide receiver Trent Sherfield before Sherfield could catch a pass thrown to him, but no flag was thrown.
In overtime, Slay grabbed Bills wide receiver Stefon Diggs’ jersey before the ball arrived, and again, no penalty was called. These pivotal missed calls changed the course of the game. When Bills head coach Sean McDermott was asked about the officiating, he gave a brief non-answer.
“Nah, I’m not going there,” McDermott said, per 13 WHAM’s Dan Fetes.
While McDermott declined to criticize the refs, USA Today’s Doug Farrar did not hold back in criticizing the no-call on what looked like a textbook horse-collar foul.
Farrar wrote, “Here at Touchdown Wire, we’ve written about the league’s awful product all season, but it’s going to be very difficult to top the no-call in the game between the Buffalo Bills and the Philadelphia Eagles for sheer WTF status.”
Head Referee Shawn Hochuli Spoke Out After the Eagles Defeated the Bills
In a pool report interview after the game, Hochuli, the head referee, was asked about several of the questionable calls made during the Bills-Eagles matchup.
On flagging the Bills quarterback for intentional grounding: “The hit on Josh Allen, we felt that force was from the front of the collar,” Hochuli said. “And what pulled him down was not from the back. So, that’s pretty much it. We felt that he was pulled down from the front of the jersey and collar.”
Former NFL referee Gene Steratore, who is a rules analyst for CBS Sports, disagreed. Steratore posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, “If the quarterback is in the pocket, there cannot be a penalty for a horse collar tackle. However, once he leaves the pocket, he is offered that protection. Josh Allen was out of the pocket, so there should have been a foul on this play.”
As for Allen’s intentional grounding, Hochuli said, “He’s responsible for where the ball goes given that he started his throwing motion after he was contacted. So, we didn’t feel like the ball was in the vicinity or the area of an eligible receiver.”
McDermott disagreed with that call. “They said that Gabe [Davis, receiver] was not in the area… From the information I got, Gabe was in the area.”
Hochuli’s answer for not calling pass interference on Slay in the second quarter was wild for anyone who watched the corner wrap up Sherfield. “So, on that play from the view and the angle of the official, we just didn’t feel that it significantly hindered the receiver’s ability to catch the ball.”
Sean McDermott Sent a Strong Message to His Players After Losing to the Eagles
Non-calls aside, the Bills accepted 11 penalties for a total of 80 yards, The Buffalo News’ Jay Skurski reported.
While Allen threw for 339 yards and two touchdowns along with two rushing scores against the Eagles, his receivers had multiple drops. The Bills defense faltered in the second half and couldn’t stop the run. Kicker Tyler Bass missed two field goals (one was blocked) and McDermott wasted two time outs late in the fourth quarter.
When asked how the team will regroup after such a devastating defeat, “You stand up,” McDermott told reporters. “This is the league we’re in.”
“We came in here, we fought our asses off… We didn’t make enough plays or do enough on the coaching end. At the end of the day, there’s a tough group of guys in that locker room. A tough group of coaches. We’re a good football team. We just came out on the short end here.
“There are no moral victories. We have to look at ourselves and that starts with me. That’s what you do. That’s what the best do.”
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