NFL Officials Admit They Blew Call That Led Vikings And Bills Into Overtime

Well, this is different: NFL Senior vice president of officiating Walt Anderson admitted the officials on the field and replay booth working the Minnesota Vikings victory over the Buffalo Bills got a huge call wrong.

The call was a 20-yard completion from Josh Allen to Gabe Davis that helped the Bills drive in the final 36 seconds for a game-tying field goal. That field goal sent the game into overtime.

The play, ruled a completion, was clearly not that after seeing the replay on television.

Except the play was never, you know, replayed in the stadium.

Bills wide receiver Gabe Davis was credited with a catch that wasn't. (Photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

NFL Honest About Mistake

"We were able – several plays after – to look at all the angles," Anderson told a pool reporter on site. "It would have been reversed to an incomplete pass because he did not maintain control of the ball after he hit the ground and the ball touched the ground out of bounds."

Luckily for all involved, the Vikings prevailed despite the missed the call, beating the Bills 33-30.

The truth is, the play in question was not even reviewed. It wasn't reviewed because it happened inside of two minutes to play so coaches along the Vikings sideline couldn't challenge.

Booth review officials couldn't fix it, either.

"We will spend a lot of time analyzing the video and audio with the crew," Anderson explained. "I’ll have to find out from the replay official exactly what he didn’t feel like he saw to stop the game.

"It was a significant distance down the field. "And even though it happens fast and Buffalo hurries to the line of scrimmage for the next play, if the replay official can’t confirm it was a catch on that long of a completed pass, we should stop play to ensure it is a catch."

The Vikings beat the Buffalo Bills on Sunday and got a good game from running back Dalvin Cook. (Photo by Timothy T Ludwig/Getty Images)

Replay Didn't Help On Josh Allen Fumble

Anderson admitted review officials could not confirm the Josh Allen fumble, ruled a Vikings recovery in the end zone for a touchdown. The ruling on the field of a Vikings TD stood.

"We could confirm from the end zone camera that the ball was not a clean exchange from the center to the quarterback," Anderson said. "That was very clear. We could tell the ball was somewhere in the pile just inside the end zone. The officials had No. 54 from Minnesota recovering the ball.

"We never ended up getting a shot to confirm that or not, but that’s what the ruling on the field was by the officials – the ball was recovered by number 54 in the end zone. But we could tell the ball was somewhere in the pile in the end zone."

Yeah, lucky for everyone involved the Vikings pulled this one out. The NFL would have a huge stink on its hands otherwise.

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