Thursday night’s thriller in Atlanta comes with a small asterisk. The Buccaneers were robbed of a chance to close the deal in regulation by an obvious miss of a facemask foul late in the fourth quarter.
It happened with 1:39 to play, and with Tampa Bay leading, 30-27. After the lone Kirk Cousins interception of the night seemingly put the Bucs in position to ice the game, running back Bucky Irving gained seven yards on second and 13 from the Atlanta 31. A flag came out, and it appeared to be the result of an obvious grab of his facemask as he was being tackled.
Instead, the Bucs were called for holding, pushing them out of field goal range and forcing them into second and 23 from the Atlanta 41.
The drive ended in a punt, and the Falcons drove into position for the field goal that forced the extra session.
The fouls should have offset, with the Bucs getting another crack at second and 13. No one knows what would have happened next. Regardless, that’s what should have happened.
Officials make mistakes all the time. As the NFL expands the embrace of clear and obvious visual evidence, either through formal replay review or replay assistance, this is the kind of thing that needs to be correctable via the plain and blatant visual evidence.
There’s no subjectivity or ambiguity when a facemask is pulled. The evidence is almost always clear and obvious.
It’s an easy fix, especially as the league uses replay more and more to get calls right. That’s all anyone wants (except Falcons fans, right now). Get the calls right. Use replay to do it. In an age of widespread legalized gambling in which the NFL has closely aligned with the house, it’s more important than ever to minimize the impact of human error on the outcome of wagers made by more and more people.
This one is easy. Put it at the top of the list for the offseason rule changes. Facemask fouls become subject to replay assistance and replay review. It’s long overdue.
And don’t fret, Falcons fans. It won’t take away tonight’s outcome. It ultimately might save your team from having something similar happen to it in the future.