Before Graham Gano missed a potential game-winning field goal and before the questionable decision to not call for a concussion evaluation of Cam Newton, Carolina kept the final drive of Thursday night’s game alive by converting a fourth-and-21 play, without the assistance of Freddie Mitchell.
Amid plenty of talk regarding officiating errors that helped the Broncos, coach Gary Kubiak expressed disagreement with a decision that could have hurt the home team.
“I think the league got it wrong, but we’ll turn it in, we’ll see,” Kubiak told reporters on Friday. “I thought it should have been called the other way, but hey, we’ll see what they say. It’s hard to give up that fourth and 21 on a five-yard penalty like that. It’s difficult so we’ll see what response we get.”
If Gano’s 50-yard try would have gone through the uprights, the penalty surely would be drawing much more attention. As it stands, the call on Harris is simply something that could have resulted in the Broncos starting the year 0-1.