A picture is worth a thousand words in most cases.   But sometimes a picture is worth 7 points.

As Sports Illustrated’s photo below clearly shows, the ball is NOT in Watkins’ hands as it crosses the goal line and hits the pylon.   First down, Miami, at its own 20.  Period.   Indisputable.

The ball is absolutely and overwhelmingly loose as it hits the pylon. Did the Bills pay off the refs AND the league’s replay officials to ignore this?

As a free gift from the NFL for their home opener, the Bills got all the calls, all day long.  But no call was worse than the one above.

On a side note, I WISH all the announcers would stop saying that all scoring plays are reviewed.   They clearly are not, or else this easy blown call would have been corrected.

Did the refs give Buffalo a free win?
Here, we even blew up the picture so the Bills fans can clearly see the ball is loose as it goes over the line and hits the pylon.

 

At the very least, Joe Philbin needs to be aware of this, and call a timeout or something…anything…to stall and give the officials more time to look it over.  Although in this case, with the refs clearly on the Bills’ side all day long, it might not have mattered.

55 Comments

  1. Cant wait.to hear the Bills fans response to this. Ooooh the pic is photo shopped , it wouldnt change the outcome. We are.going to win the.AFC East. Phins fans are sore loosers. All i gotta say is karma is a bitch. And god help some of the forum trolls if we beat them later this year. Its.not.my style to counter troll their sites. But I will make an exception in this case.

    1. Author

      My friend PhinsUp, you are right on the money! Within 5 minutes, I already have the “it wouldn’t have mattered” comments, sore loser comments, and all that.
      Should I now bring up the time Brandon Gibson scored a touchdown but the refs said a ghost touched him and called the play dead?

      1. I have the entire game film. Going to slow-mo the fumble and review it. Why ? Because I can but trust me trollers, Im over it. Just curious. And going to re examine the B-Gibson TD called back. Let you know the results soon.

    2. I wish I had something sly to say here. But I wouldn’t dare. As a lifetime Bills fan of over 45 years, I must admit that I’m a little worried over my trip to Miami this year to see my Bills play in your stadium. If there is this much hatred over Bills fans on this forum because of a call that the refs missed, and the resulting distribution of venomous commentary is directed at the longtime loyal fans…. well I’ll just mind my p’s and q’s. It is sad, but it is reality. I would say the same to a Bills fan degrading the passion of any other team’s base. We are, after all, just a bunch of people with one thing in common… we love football and we love our teams.

      1. Yeti, you have nothing to worry about. Dolphins stadium never sells out. The fans are elderly, not rowdy. They are quiet and respectful and treat football as a passing interest, not a passion

  2. You are a little crybaby. All the ball has to do is touch the line it does not have to cross it. In all honesty it wouldn’t have mattered anyway you still would not have won. We were kicking your ass all day long at three phases of the game.

    1. Author

      Travis, the ball has to touch the line WHILE THE PLAYER IS HOLDING IT. The indisputable visual proof above shows the ball is loose.
      Number one, Get your rules straight.
      Number two, have fun shoveling snow for the next 4 months up there in B-lo.

      1. The picture above shows his hand in the endzone. You need to get the still photo of exactly where the ball comes out at. This photo only proves that the ball is out after it would have went past the line.

  3. Even if it wasn’t a TD take away 7 points andthe Bills still win. Answer one question if the Refs were on the Bills side all day long like you suggest then why was Buffalo Penalized 6 times for 40 yards and Miami was only Penalized 3 for 20 yards. Before you make stupid comments about Refs being on Buffalo’s side all day long at least get you facts straight. A loss is a loss and excuses are like assholes everyone has one. Fact Bills defense out played Miami’s offense period.

  4. I love fins fans. Keep making excuses when your team is garbage. As mike Carey said during the game, this play was ruled a TD during the game (which it was, watch the replay) and there was no indisputable evidence that would allow the refs to change the call. You guys should just stop talking at this point. The Bills have annihilated the dolphins the past two games and beaten them the last three, there is no more that needs to be said. 29-10 brotha.

    1. Author

      LOL, danny. Look at the closeup above and you tell me if the ball in in Watkins’ hands? Wouldn’t you admit that it is indisputably loose? Yes or no…is the ball in Watkins’ hand?

      1. The Bills fan are loud now, but wait until they lose two or three Super Bowls in a row, then they will shut up.

        1. Wrong. The don’t shut up even after they lose 4 straight Super Bowls.

          1. At least we made it to the playoffs AND the super bowl. We were the #2 team in the league 4 years in a row!!! Only a bunch of Dol-fans would try to ridicule that! Lol. #wheresyourcommonsense

            1. Number 2 just means you won all those games for no reason but to pick 31st dolphins went to three in a row won 2 of those in a risk one which was undefeated so yeah but that’s the past.

      2. If you watch the replay you can see that the ball WAS in his possession when the top of the ball passed the plane of the goal-line, and then he fumbled. You’re blinded by bias and mere jealousy that our team is and was better than yours in every single facet of the game.

        1. Danny, can you honestly look at that closeup above and tell us the ball is in his hand? Wow, methinks you have Buffalo wing hot sauce in your eyes.

        2. Did you notice how he lost control of the ball at about the 2 or 3 yard line as well? So he clearly never fully regained control. Therefore it was a fumble and touchback.

          1. Did you notice how he lost control of the ball at about the 2 or 3 yard line as well?
            Dolphins fans noticed.
            Bills fans looked the other way and deny.

    2. As a Bills fan I’ve gotta say it isn’t because I love all of the fans… I do however love most of the fans. But when trollers migrate to opposing sites just to insult another teams fan base, especially when those trolls are from a team in the midst of a 14 year playoff drought, especially when those trolls are from a team that has started 4 and 0 a couple of times within the last decade only to end the season below .500, especially when those trolls (if they are honest with themselves) can look at a Miami team with more similarities to their own team than differences…. well I become saddened to have to say that I have chosen a team that has such a petty fan base. But since every team has folks like you… I can either try and ignore your senseless attacks on each other, or I can quit reading the blogs all together. I’ll probably do the latter… though there are still some blogs out there (for my Bills) that use intelligence and respect as their cornerstones. You don’t need to look for them… you would be banned due to your sad and destructive diatribe.

  5. wow…so many comments from you Dolphins fans are just ridiculous. “have fun shoveling snow”…..and “wait until they lose two or three super bowls” for example…..who says things like that and expects it to sound intelligent? The Bills waxed the Dolphins on Sunday, and this play wouldn’t have reversed that. By the way…instead of complaining about the ball not crossing the plane, be lucky that your defender wasn’t flagged 15 yards for elbowing Sammy in the head…watch that replay and tell me the Dolphins didn’t also get away with a free call. ..pinheads.

    1. Author

      Have fun shoveling snow while we’re at the beach.

      1. ok…….what exactly are you trying to prove by making that comment? Couldn’t argue the blatant elbow to the head? The real root of this article?Am i missing something? Typical Dolphins fan, straight up lack of intelligence. Uhhhh, I guess have fun sitting inside your house sweating during the summer while we’re out drinking beer at festivals? I really don’t know what else to say…

        1. I think the Admin’s point is that only a Bill’s fan can see the picture above and ignore the fumble but instead whine about an elbow. Wide Right!

          1. I read my comment over 5 times, and just can’t see where I was whining about the elbow. Just saying that if the refs did their job, the *fumble* would have been washed out by the elbow to the head and the football would have been placed inside the 5 yard line. By the way…Wide Right did you say?….if i remember correctly, the Bills beat the Dolphins that year to get to the Super Bowl. Butt hurt Dolphins fans…you may live in Miami, but put your sweater on cause it gets cold in the basement of the AFC East.

            1. Author

              Okay, we gotta admit the cold basement comment was good, and we’ll give you a deserved prop there.

                1. Here here! I did lol too at the basement comment. Nice.

                  1. @Aaron. Yes its an honest compliment. It was funny. And thanks for dropping in. Good luck on Sunday.

      2. Have Fun Dodging the NEXT MEGA Hurricane while we are at the beach in Lake Erie next August……………..

        1. Author

          Good one, Saro. Say what you want about Dolphins Truth, but we always acknowledge when we’re hit with a funny zinger.

    2. Except you can’t say that plays like swing momentum the dolphins could of driven down the field to make it 6 point game again that BS play took it out of the players they knew at that moment the refs where not going to let them win.

  6. okay subtract 7 from 29…..BILLS 22 FISH 10…….BUFFALO STILL WINS!!

  7. Sour grapes much?? Any still photo can be used to try to prove a point. If you watch the video replay you see Sammy juggle the ball a bit. True. But he regains control just before touching the ball to the pylon, when it finally comes loose for good. TD all-day long. Bottom line, it was a great play by Watkins. He beat the defender to the corner and powered through him to the pylon.
    P.S. If you want to be taken seriously (which isn’t clear, maybe you don’t?), you need to leave out comments like “the refs gifted a TD” and “easy blown call”, and the amateur-hour Bills’ snow and wide right comments.

    1. Author

      Randall, we’re generally a serious site devoted to critiquing the Dolphins management of the team, questionable draft choices, etc. But every now and then we like to throw in a little controversy, including some sour grapes.
      The main point of this whole article is that the play SHOULD have been reviewed. Review it and award the Bills a touchdown. We can live with that. But to not even give it a second glance?

      1. There you go guy, a sensible point and a well thought-out argument. Keep to that and your site will be better off. It’s ok to be passionate as a writer, and even a homer, but the author/admin shouldn’t take cheap shots at their readers in the comments section of their articles.

    2. He didn’t even have it in his hand when it touched the pylon

        1. Jason and Curtis, we all know you are right. Why do Bills fans live in such denial?

  8. every TD is reviewed obviously they did NOT see a fumble!!

    1. You ever notice how fast some extra points occur? There is no way that EVERY SINGLE td is reviewed.

  9. every single scoring play reviewed

  10. the BILLS own the fish!! deal with it!

  11. Wow people. Seriously? As a Bills fan, I can honestly say, I wasn’t sure if that should have been a TD, but regardless it happens in every game to some degree so get over it. Sometimes in your favor, sometimes not. This is quite silly, and posted on the Bills site, stupid. Keep to yourselves and worry more about the real problems why the Dolphins lost.

  12. I think that the problem with the play is that watkins lost control at the 2-3 yard line bobbled it and then grabbed it as he got to the goal line. If he didn’t bobble it again he would have showed control but he didn’t he dropped it.

    I was waiting for the review and felt safe that they’d overturn it but then I see them lining up for the kick? They couldn’t possibly have given it more than 5 seconds how do you do this on something that technical. Replay was brought in to make things right and in this case they didn’t give the system a chance and whoever screwed this up should be demoted as I would hate to see this happen to any team. At the time this was critical the Fins could have easily marched down and scored…the game was far from over at that time.

  13. “the fins could have easily marched down the field and scored” best joke I’ve heard all week!! they could not move the ball an inch yet in this drive they would have gone an scored!! hilarious!!

    1. At the time of Watkins’ fumble, the Dolphins had just scored 10 points. They WERE moving the ball and we did have momentum. Plus, there is always EXTRA momentum from causing a turnover, like we did by causing Watkins to fumble. Only a Bills fan would watch the Dolphins score on two consecutive drives and then say “you could not move the ball an inch.”

  14. delusional fish fans!! you lost give it up it was a TOUCHDOWN!! BILLS played better in ALL faces of the game!! get over it!! BILLS 2-0 Fish 1-1

  15. and they COULD NOT move the ball thats why they only had 10 points dumb@$$!!

  16. oh and on a 4th down the fish had an obvious false start that the refs did not call in they converted……just saying!

    1. Author

      Jorge is right. We only scored 10 points, and we need to correct that immediately and score more!

  17. Bills fans and Fish eggs need to worry about dethroning the Patriots. As a Bills fan I don’t normally read other blogs but since this was posted on the Bills site I wanted to see what all the fuss is. Waist of my time. Bad calls = Tennessee Titans illegal forward pass. Good thing they lost to the Rams by that same one yard they were given in the wild card playoff game!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    1. Author

      Brett Hull’s foot in the crease was an even worse call than the illegal Titan lateral.

  18. There was complaining about the Intentional Grounding call and the Pass Interference call during the rematch game this week. This call here was still far worse.

    These comments are more fun to read now than they were back then I’m sure.

    1. Author

      Back then and even now….the Bills are irrelevant, and the only team Miami ever needs to worry about is New England.

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