Buccaneers coach Dirk Koetter says an official admitted to him during Sunday’s game that a Vikings player got away with an illegal hit that none of the officials saw live.
Vikings safety Andrew Sendejo hit Bucs tight end Cameron Brate as he caught a touchdown pass on Sunday, but the officials didn’t throw a flag. After the touchdown was shown on the video board in the stadium, Koetter says, an official approached him to admit that he should have thrown a flag.
“Yes, it should have been a penalty, and the official told me afterwards that he just flat missed it and he saw it on the replay,” Koetter said, via Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times. “I appreciate his honesty. I was asking him about it. It looked like it to everybody that was watching it, and of course, Cam thought it was. The official came right over and said he missed it when he saw it on the replay.”
Brate was not injured on the play and held onto the ball, but it should have been a 15-yard penalty on the ensuing kickoff. It also raises a question: If an official can look up at the stadium video board and see that he missed an illegal hit to the head, why aren’t those plays reviewable? The league routinely uses TV replays to determine whether to fine players for illegal hits. It might be time to use TV replays to determine whether to throw flags as well.