A holding penalty against the Buccaneers’ center Graham Barton helped set the stage for the Falcons’ game-tying drive late in the fourth quarter on Thursday night, but the damage that penalty did would have been mitigated if officials had also called a foul on the Falcons.
Buccaneers running back Bucky Irving’s facemask was grabbed on the play, which should have made for an offsetting penalty and a replayed down. Facemask penalties are not cause for a booth review and they are not one of the calls permitted to be made through replay assistance, which is something Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles would like to see changed this offseason.
“Hopefully we can get to that and we’re trying to get to that right there,” Bowles said, via Jenna Laine of ESPN.com. “I think it should be reviewed from the top or at least be reviewed by the coaches, if anything else so they don’t miss much calls.”
Bowles was added to the NFL’s Competition Committee this summer, so he’ll be in position to push for the change even if it will come too late to have any impact on Thursday’s result.
