The Tampa Bay Buccaneers fell to the Buffalo Bills 24-18 Thursday to fall to 3-4 on the season. In a game that saw the Pewter Pirates struggle for the majority of the game.
The Bucs managed to pull within one score of the Bills and a shot at a victory. With four seconds on the clock quarterback Baker Mayfield launched a 60 yard bomb that literally landed in between three potential receivers. When was the last time we’ve seen a Hail Mary hit the ground without ANYONE touching it? Not one receiver, not one defender. Why is that?
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We all saw it, we all saw the multiple instances of pass interference. So why wasn’t it called? Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles chimed in.
“I mean, they’re all like that at the end of the ball game,” Bowles told reporters via to Joey Knight of the Tampa Bay Times. “When the ball’s in the air, you’re not really looking for flags.”
Look, we all get it, the refs swallow their whistles on Hail Mary’s, but at what point does the obvious get called? We aren’t talking about some ticky-tack contact here. Cade Otton was mugged, Mike Evans was held and Chris Godwin was spun around like a ballerina. There has to be a line here, otherwise why try?
If the pass interference was actually called it would’ve resulted in an untimed down from the one-yard-line.
“The defense is trying to box out, the offense is trying to get position,” Bowles stated. “Very rarely are you going to see a flag on that play. You either make the catch and get it up in the air and get a tipped ball or you don’t.”
Again, even if a penalty was called there was no guarantee of a victory. But seriously, this needs to be addressed by the league. Not just because it happened to the Buccaneers, but that it has happened before and will happen again. In a league that is so controlling of everything, you’d think they would get control of this.
An almost perfect Hail Mary play by Baker Mayfield and the Bucs to beat Buffalo… all Chris Godwin has to do is turn around a second earlier and locate the ball… that close omg 😳 #GoBucs
Tampa Bay loses instead in Buffalo and falls to 3-4 on the Season. Wow! pic.twitter.com/DwCGGY4v8f
— 𝗭𝗮𝗰 𝗕𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗻𝗲𝗿🎙 (@ZacOnTheMic) October 27, 2023