It seemed at times like the officials were doing whatever they could to make their mark on today’s wild card battle between the Las Vegas Raiders and the Cincinnati Bengals.
In the first half, they allowed a Cincinnati Bengals touchdown to stand, despite the fact that they had blown the play dead well before Tyler Boyd caught a Joe Burrow pass in the back of the end zone.NFL rules expert Terry McAulay pointed out that it definitely shouldn’t have been ruled a touchdown, as the ball was still in the air when the play was ruled dead. Instead, the most the officials could have done was decide to replay the down.
Apparently they weren’t done there. Late in the fourth quarter, with less than two minutes remaining and the Raiders needing a touchdown to tie the game, the officials flagged Bengals defensive end Hkalid Kareem for roughing the passed, despite making minimal contact with Raiders quarterback Derek Carr.
Carr clearly sold it, and the extra 15 yards set the Raiders up with a first down in Bengals territory.
Luckily for everyone (except the Raiders), the Bengals were able to force a turnover on downs after Vegas drove the ball into the red zone.It was a thrilling ending to the first postseason game of the year, and thankfully this terrible call be the officials didn’t end up playing a role in the outcome.
