NFL fans accused the league of fixing Thursday night’s contest between the Buffalo Bills and Tampa Bay Buccaneers following a missed penalty call on the final play.
With the Bucs trailing by six in the waning seconds, Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield attempted a Hail Mary to the end zone. The perfectly-thrown pass was placed right into Chris Godwin’s bread basket, but the star wideout was unable to locate the ball, and it sailed incomplete.
But as you can see in the photo below, the Bucs were screwed big time here, as officials missed two clear pass interference calls on the game’s final play. If they threw the flag, Tampa would have had the golden opportunity to win the game on a goal-to-go play:
The missed call by the referees led to a plethora of “The NFL is fixed” claims by fans on social media…
You know it @nfl. Rigged https://t.co/jV0mpo8SuC
— Brad (@dolphinsgm2019) October 27, 2023
@nfl @NFLOfficiating Rigged. No way officials are this bad. Games are scripted and determined outcomes through officials. https://t.co/ePJM09zOMX
— Brad (@dolphinsgm2019) October 27, 2023
TRENDING: clear cut blatant evidence the NFL is rigged & scripted. Godwin wasn’t paying any attention on purpose & was being held. Also Mike evans was held. No rule says they can’t throw a flag on the final play. NFL has been EXPOSED in 4k. A win for the truthers @FormerNFLFan789 pic.twitter.com/VGxhQGtYIS
— Cantguardmike (@edits841) October 27, 2023
If it was in Tampa I feel thry would have thrown the flag. In all actuality the bills should be 3 and 5 they have been bailed out twice on last minute non called pi @nfl get this fixed quit fixing games it is annoying.
— Jordan Murray (@jojo341532) October 27, 2023
NFL is fixed
— Tiberius (@Tiberius1205) October 27, 2023
NFL is clearly rigged. Commissioner and refs need some hefty fines and prison time pic.twitter.com/LCg60Gq9sp
— D1ce (@D1ceOr1g1nal) October 27, 2023
Whether fans like it or not, you almost never see pass interference or holding calls on Hail Mary play. You may recall that the Los Angeles Chargers got away with defensive PI on the Kansas City Chiefs’ Hail Mary attempt in Week 3 of the 2021 season.
As CBS’ Tony Romo pointed out, officials simply aren’t going to throw a flag in those situations.
Thursday night marked the Bucs’ third straight loss, while the Bills narrowly improved to 5-3 on the year following a tough Week 7 road loss in New England.
