Eagles Pro Bowler says Bills received special treatment from officials
Despite winning, Philadelphia Eagles All-Pro linebacker Haason Reddick was upset following Sunday's game against the Buffalo Bills. Reddick felt the officials had robbed him of a sack on Josh Allen that happened late in the second quarter. The Bills were up 10-7 as they faced a second-and-goal from Philadelphia's 3-yard line. Allen went back to […]
Despite winning, Philadelphia Eagles All-Pro linebacker Haason Reddick was upset following Sunday's game against the Buffalo Bills.
Reddick felt the officials had robbed him of a sack on Josh Allen that happened late in the second quarter.
The Bills were up 10-7 as they faced a second-and-goal from Philadelphia's 3-yard line. Allen went back to pass but was immediately pressured by Reddick who grabbed the collar of Allen's jersey with one hand and then the back near his collar with his other hand and swung him down.
Just before hitting the ground, Allen was able to get rid of the ball in an attempt to avoid being sacked.
Allen then flashed his ripped jersey to the officials, who called intentional ground on the play.
"He was lobbying for an intentional grounding," Reddick told Jimmy Kempski of Philly Voice after the game. "If that doesn't tell you what that means… they gotta start counting that as a sack. They're just throwing the ball away with nobody in the area so they don't get a sack. We rush well. They already don't want us to get any sacks after we had 70 last year. They don't want us to be who we are.
"There's no benefit. They actually lost more yards on the intentional grounding than they did on the sack."
With the intentional grounding call, the Bills lost 13 yards on the play rather than 10 yards.
Eagles' defensive end Josh Sweat was just as upset about the penalty as Reddick was.
"That's some bulls***, and he did it on purpose," Sweat said (h/t Philly Voice). "The f***ing dude literally begged [the officials] for intentional grounding to not f***ing take a sack. He f***ing begged for intentional grounding just to not give us a sack. It could've been a fumble, and you'd f*** your team at that point. How the f*** do we get penalized [in the stat sheet] for him getting a penalty? Don't f***ing take my sh** away. It's too hard to get there."
Eagles-Bills Ref Explains Controversial Call
Many viewers watching the game believed Reddick actually should have been flagged for a horse-collar tackle.
Referee Shawn Hochuli gave his explanation on the controversial call after the game.
"The hit on Josh Allen, we felt that the force was from the front of the collar and what pulled him down was not from the back," Hochuli said on why Reddick wasn't flagged for a horse-collar tackle. "So, that’s pretty much it. We felt that he was pulled down from the front of the jersey and collar.”
Why was intentional grounding called?
“Yes, so grounding, he’s responsible for where the ball goes given that he started his throwing motion after he was contacted, so we didn’t feel like the ball was in the vicinity or the area of an eligible receiver,” Hochuli explained.
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