NFL world reacts as referee defends horrible call

During Sunday night’s dramatic overtime matchup between the Denver Broncos and the Buffalo Bills, officials made a highly controversial ruling that wound up altering the outcome of the game. Now, those same officials are standing firmly behind that decision.

In the closing moments of overtime, Bills quarterback Josh Allen appeared to connect with wide receiver Brandin Cooks on a deep pass. However, after Cooks came down with the ball, Broncos cornerback Ja’Quan McMillian ripped it free as the receiver hit the turf.

Officials ruled the play an interception, a decision that stunned viewers and sparked widespread backlash from fans, who overwhelmingly thought the play should have been ruled a completed catch by Cooks.

Following the game, referee Carl Cheffers addressed the controversial call, explaining that the receiver failed to complete the catch through the ground.

“The receiver has to complete the process of a catch,” Cheffers explained via Pro Football Talk.

“He was going to the ground as part of the process of the catch and he lost possession of the ball when he hit the ground. The defender gained possession of it at that point. The defender is the one that completed the process of the catch, so the defender was awarded the ball,” he said.

Cheffers added that the ruling was upheld after review. Needless to say, the explanation led to a lot of reactions on social media.

“Sorry but this was pure cheating. You can’t convince me otherwise,” one fan wrote in a post on X.

“He did not lose possession as he hit the ground. He lost it AFTER he hit the ground and was down,” someone else added.

“These refs need to be held accountable for bad calls like this. They clearly don’t know the rules or extremely inconsistent in the calls that they don’t deserve their jobs,” another fan wrote.

“He had possession, knee down, contact made – play done – down by contact – too many caveats regarding catches – crazy rules and crazier interpretation,” someone else added.

“I mean cooks never lost possession, he had 2 arms around the ball and laying on the ground,” another fan wrote.

It’s safe to say that fans did not agree with this decision.