The Bills had a lot to be upset about when Sunday’s loss to the Eagles came to an end.
They came back from 10 points down to tie the game in the third quarter, only to see their offense go into a hole for the rest of the game on the way to a 23-20 final score. The loss dropped their playoff chances from unlikely to nearly impossible, leaving plenty of reason for bad feelings.
They were also flagged for 15 penalties totaling 101 yards during the contest and the officiating clearly left the team’s coaches with some anger after the final whistle. Joe Buscaglia of WKBW shared a video of head coach Rex Ryan, defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman and others walking up the tunnel and hectoring the officials, including someone, possibly Thurman, screaming that their work is “a disgrace to the NFL.”
In his postgame press conference, Ryan was more conciliatory. While he felt that offensive pass interference was missed on a key 41-yard catch by Eagles tight end Zach Ertz in the fourth quarter, he didn’t go the disgrace route when discussing the officiating in general.
“There’s always things that you’re going to have disagreements with officials,” Ryan said, via ESPN.com. “There’s always going to be that. But that’s Ed Hochuli, and that’s as good a crew as you’re gonna get. Did I think it went perfect? Probably not. From our vantage point on the sideline, it looked like the guy clearly picked our guy, but obviously we weren’t there on their sideline where it happened. They bring one guy in and all he does is block. You’re always going to have calls you disagree with, but the officials, that crew in particular is an outstanding crew and I’m sure they got it right.”
The league sent a memo to all 32 teams early this season reminding them of the league’s policy against “egregious and inflammatory comments” about officiating.