The Cleveland Browns managed a comeback win against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, but were aided by two major penalties down the stretch.
Colts cornerback Darrell Baker Jr. was called for back-to-back penalties in the final minute of the game that helped the Browns come back from a 38-33 deficit. The first, an illegal contact foul, negated a strip sack and fumble recovery that would have sewn up the game for the Colts.
The Colts get a fumble to seal the game and the refs bail out the Browns with a penalty to give the ball back to the Browns pic.twitter.com/tOd7fLYdwK
— CFBBlueprint (@CFBBluePrint) October 22, 2023
The second penalty was more controversial. Baker was called for pass interference while defending Browns wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones. The two appeared to be hand-fighting, and more relevantly, the pass was well out of the end zone and appeared to be uncatchable.
Was this ball uncatchable or should it have been pass interference on the Colts? pic.twitter.com/W1VpEuJOUf
— Arye Pulli (@AryePulliNFL) October 22, 2023
The second foul set the Browns up with first and goal at the 1-yard line. They wound up need four plays, but finally did punch it in to take the lead in what turned out to be a 39-38 win.
The Colts will no doubt have some major complaints about how the last two minutes of the game were officiated. The game was over without the first one, and the second one set up a much easier conversion for Cleveland.
On the other hand, some would argue the Colts got some breaks from officials in a game earlier this season that also came down to the wire. One could say this is just evening things out.
