We'll never know what Bills Stadium, surrounding parking lots and the entire city of Buffalo would have looked like had the Indianapolis Colts happened to beat the Bills on Wild Card Weekend.
Fortunately, that wasn't the outcome, as the Bills earn the 27-24 win in Orchard Park to advance to the AFC Divisional Round next weekend. But the win certainly did not come without some controversy late in the fourth quarter, courtesy of a controversial call from the officials.
With under a minute remaining in Saturday's first of three playoff games around the NFL, Colts quarterback Philip Rivers attempted to continue a game-winning or game-tying drive, finding wide receiver Zach Pascal deep for a 17-yard completion. Stumbling after making the grab, Pascal appeared to regain his footing and subsequently lose the football as he got back upright. In other words, Pascal quite clearly looked to have fumbled the football.
However, the referees ruled him down by contact, and apparently had no intention of reviewing the play. This was strike No. 1 for the Twitter audience.
Thanks to an attempted timeout by Sean McDermott, the referees did go and review the play.
Crisis averted, right? Wrong. The call stood. Strike No. 2.
Former referee Gene Steratore offered his two cents following the play, disagreeing with the on-field officials' assessment of what occurred.
Here's what the NFL Officiating's official Twitter had to say:
And what would have been strike No. 3 is if the Colts had used that undeserved opportunity to drive down the field and kick a field goal to tie the game or — even worse — win it with a touchdown.
Fortunately, that didn't happen.
The game ended with a Rivers heave toward the end zone that was ultimately broken up by the Bills secondary, giving Buffalo its first playoff win since the 1995 season.
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