Buffalo Bills Fail To Beat Seahawks And NFL Refs

The Buffalo Bills rolled up more than 400 yards in offense, Tyrod Taylor passed for nearly 300 yards and the Bills controlled the ball for more than 40 of the 60 minutes, yet they ended up losing to the Seattle Seahawks 31-25 on Monday night football.

The Bills had a chance to win it in the final two minutes when they drove to the Seahawks 7-yard line, but that's as close as they would come to a go-ahead touchdown.  Taylor's fourth down pass into the end zone was incomplete and the Bills were left to ponder their latest setback.

An outrageously inept performance by the game officials may have cost the Bills the game.  Kicker Dan Carpenter lined up for a 53-yard field goal with 3 seconds to play in the first half, but defensive back Richard Sherman not only was offside, but took a dirty shot at Carpenter - a foul that wasn't called.  It left Carpenter writhing in pain on the field.

After the five yard penalty Carpenter tried again, but the Bills were called for delay of game mainly because an official was standing over the ball until there was only 10 seconds left on the play clock.  The officials never reset the play clock and the Bills were back to trying a longer field goal again.  The attempt was wide, the Bills walked off the field angry and it had an impact on what the Bills had to do in the second half.

I've been a high school for more than 30 years and I know our guys would have never left something like that go.  I had a game just a few weeks ago with the exact same scenario where a defensive player was offside on a kick and roughed the kicker.  He was flagged for both fouls.

You never want a foul against a defenseless player to go uncalled.  And that's what this NFL crew did.  They should be suspended immediately without pay.  The NFL officiating department acknowledged that the crew did make a number of mistakes during that sequence at the end of the first half.

It doesn't help the Bills one bit.  It's tough enough trying to beat another NFL team, much less having the officiating crew fail to make obvious calls.