Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills fell to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday night. With a nationwide audience tuned in for ‘Sunday Night Football’ on NBC, Allen and the Bills made a late comeback attempt that came up short. The 24-18 loss sent them down to 5-4 this season. While they were the center of discussion for the loss, they also caused a stir after officials called a penalty on the Buffalo quarterback.
Late in the second quarter, the referees called an intentional grounding penalty on Allen. The Bills quarterback attempted or appeared to try to throw the ball to wide receiver Gabriel Davis. A Cincinnati defensive back stopped him short or seemed to, and the ball sailed away. It was nowhere near Davis, so the refs called grounding.
But was that the right call?
Immediately, NBC’s Cris Collinsworth disagreed. Collinsworth bantered with NBC rules analyst Terry McAulay about the call. The former NFL tight end argued that it wasn’t grounding but that, instead, Davis ran an option route. He chose to stop running, and Allen made a poor read, Collinsworth said, so it wasn’t actually grounding. So he thought that, in the spirit of the rule, the call was incorrect. McAulay disagreed.
"I understand the rule and the definition of it. But in reality — the game of football, that wasn't grounding. He wasn't trying to throw that one away. It was just a mistake in read."
NBC's Cris Collinsworth and Terry McAulay banter over an intentional grounding penalty called… pic.twitter.com/poOYDUOm8e
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 6, 2023
The NBC booth wasn’t the only place where there was debate on Sunday night. Online, fans went back and forth on it. There were several who sided with Collinsworth and not with the refs or McAulay’s position.
Referees are now power hungry and addicted to throwing yellow flags. Taking over the games. Bad bad look. https://t.co/QImm7RYHDo
— CJ (@CJSanchez77) November 6, 2023
FYI for those of you who were Cardinals fans back in 2004 should remember we got screwed on one of those stupid intentional grounding penalties on a deep ball. Shaun King was the QBhttps://t.co/S0dod6BNqJ https://t.co/jeJI9i2WNH
— AzCardsGM™️ (@AzCardsGM) November 6, 2023
Dear God I'm agreeing with Cris Collinsworth it's truly end of days https://t.co/g21Wgoplvz
— J🍩ey Bag 🍩f D🍩nuts 🍩 (@joeybagovdonuts) November 6, 2023
Agree with CC here. The refs have a boner for calling grounding nowadays and it’s ridiculous in many cases. https://t.co/RCfsdnzqoB
— The Count (@TheCount1017) November 6, 2023
If I vowed to only drink/take a shot when Terry McAulay disagreed with a calm the refs made, I’d be stone cold sober for two months now. https://t.co/YyMHUZNoJk
— Scott Miller (@beansmankato) November 6, 2023
The NFL is ruining itself with rules. They've taken any context of intent out of a rule literally called "Intentional Grounding". What happens in January when a cold wet ball slips out of your hands when you release it and it's way off target? Intentional grounding too? https://t.co/Ok3NAuhK9N
— Justin Rose (@JWRose42) November 6, 2023
The instance where ‘trust me I played the game’ heavily outweighs the zebras. Just understand the game bette Rand not the rule book. https://t.co/8vem7wS41m
— Jason Wippich (@Wipps) November 6, 2023
Like how bad does it have to be when general consensus is CRIS COLLINSWORTH is the right one here? https://t.co/nRDtfMgyup
— Referee Jared Hawkins (@RefJHawk) November 6, 2023
