It was an ugly night of football for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but they still almost managed to pull of a miracle in the end.
Down 24-18, Baker Mayfield heaved up a Hail Mary as time expired that sailed within inches of Chris Godwin’s open hand in the endzone. Had Godwin seen the ball a second earlier, he likely would have caught it for one of th most miraculous finishes of the season.
Instead, the ball hit the ground untouched and the Buccaneers comeback attempt was thwarted. For a split second though it looked like things would end differently, and how close Godwin was to answering a prayer had fans looking back at the play over and over again.
On those repeat viewings, a few things started to pop out — specifically what appeared to be a few missed pass interference calls that could have given the Bucs one more chance to punch out the Bills and walk away with an upset victory.
Did refs miss pass interference call on Bucs Hail Mary throw?
In real time the most shocking thing was that Godwin came within inches of catching an untouched Hail Mary pass. Upon further review, it looked as though the reason he missed it was because he got turned around by the Bills defender who was grabbing him in the endzone.
Chris Godwin narrow miss aside, see if you can count all the flags they could’ve thrown here 😂 #TBvsBUF pic.twitter.com/8HA5Aew2GF
— Bad Sports Refs (@BadSportsRefs) October 27, 2023
Terrel Bernard grabs Godwin twice — first before he even gets into the endzone and then again when the reciever is tracking the ball to try and make a catch. Catching it in real time was tougher than watching at it in slow motion, but it’s there if you’re looking for it.
How was none of this called pass interference? #gobucs
— Tony (@homiedaclown24) October 27, 2023
pic.twitter.com/zlf2FBYHlP
There could have been a flag thrown for pass interference on the Bills defenders covering Cade Otto to the point where he could have filed assault charges, but that also went uncalled.
Calls like these are almost never made on Hail Mary throws, though. There are occasions where the contact is enough to warrant a flag, but these sorts of plays are usually full of pushing and shoving that seems obvious but goes uncalled.
Given how close Godwin was to catching the ball, the penalties that could have been called are magnified. It’s all irrelevant at this point, and nothing more than shouting into the echo chamber that so many other fans have been on the wrong end of in the past.
How close things were to ending differently, though, makes this one sting a little bit more than the others.