The “inadvertent whistle” play from Monday night’s Patriots-Bills game will go down as one of the worst blemishes for NFL officials during the 2015 season. Could it have been avoided if Rex Ryan wasn’t screaming in the face of the guy who was responsible for it?
After referee Gene Steratore sorted out the debacle and awarded Danny Amendola a reception (video here), Rex Ryan was assessed a 15-yard penalty for interfering with an official during a play. As Matt Chatham of Football By Football notes, that interference may have directly led to the “inadvertent” whistle.
Thought u knew what "inadvertent" meant? Think again! #NFL owns words, yo #inadvertentwhistle #Patriots #Bills #MNF pic.twitter.com/qcxQCnnjId
— Matt Chatham (@chatham58) November 24, 2015
Here’s another angle of Ryan walking up to the official in the middle of the play:
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Mistakes happen, but can you just imagine if Bill Belichick was that close to an NFL official who accidentally blew his whistle? We would still be talking about this in the two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, and everyone would be saying the Patriots were “at it again.”
The NFL is probably glad the Patriots ended up winning, because it looked like Danny Amendola could have potentially scored a touchdown on that play. Although, the Bills also fell victim to a terrible call later in the game. It was just a bad night all around for the league.
