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Hey, NFL: What’s up?<\/p>\n
Once again, many football fans, coaches and commentators are questioning the meaning of the hold after a controversial layoff helped eliminate the Buffalo Bills from the playoffs in a 33-30 loss to the Denver Broncos on Saturday.<\/p>\n
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Josh Allen’s deep pass to Brandin Cooks in overtime was knocked out of the hands of veteran receiver Ja’Quan McMillian, and officials ruled McMillian had the ball before Cooks went down on contact. Denver was awarded a turnover at its own 20.<\/p>\n
Cooks “was going down as part of the catch process and lost the ball when he hit the ground,” umpire Carl Cheffers said in the pool report. “The fullback got it at that point. The fullback was the one who completed the catch, so the fullback was awarded the ball.”<\/p>\n
Bills coach Sean McDermott couldn’t appeal the decision because of the league’s overtime rules, so he called a timeout to give the management team and officials a chance to take a long look. The play had already been confirmed through the NFL’s expedited review process in New York, so the timeout gave McDermott an opportunity for an explanation.<\/p>\n
McDermott, of course, was not happy. But he was even more annoyed by the seeming speed of the process. There are regular plays in regular season games that are examined in depth in replay reviews.<\/p>\n
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“When I called timeout … Carl came in and those guys were great. They were great, I said, ‘Hey, what did you see?’ and then suddenly, someone says: ‘Hey, New York confirmed it. New York has confirmed it,’\u201d McDermott said. “From that point on, it was a crucial point. We were going. If I didn’t call a timeout, they just kept going, it turned out … This doesn’t mean, ‘Hey, we lost.’ Nothing about that at all. He plays the game, plays it well and is square. I just, again, just wish because of the players and all the time and energy that was spent – three hours, 70-plus minutes of the game. That was an important game, that’s all I’m saying.”<\/p>\n
By definition, it appears that the termination was the right call. Many people disagree.<\/p>\n
“I’ve never seen a running catch like this that was called anything but a catch,” retired All-Pro linebacker Richard Sherman wrote in X. “Even as a DB you know that if it’s
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