Bills owner is blunt in questioning TD catch overturned
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Bills owner Terry Pegula wondered what television NFL officials were watching in questioning inconsistencies in video replay rulings after Buffalo receiver Kelvin Benjamin’s touchdown was overturned in a loss at New England last weekend.
The usually low-key owner went out of character Tuesday during an appearance on Buffalo’s WGR-Radio by specifically referencing NFL officiating chief Al Riveron, and saying he intends to raise his concerns with the league.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but we have to fix it,” Pegula added. “I’m not saying this as the owner of the Bills. I’m saying it as a football fan. We can’t have stuff like this happening in our league.”
Pegula questioned whether the league has taken its review process too far in overturning officials’ calls.
“Replay was developed by this league to correct obvious mistakes,” he said. “If you’ve got to look at a play 30 times from five different angles and keep looking at it and looking at it and looking at it, you go with the call on the field. It’s what the league’s been doing ever since replay started.”
As for Riveron, Pegula said the league official might be the only one in the nation who agrees with the call being reversed.
Pegula then provided a blunt response when asked whether he expects the conversations at the league office to be unfriendly.
“Well, you know, if it’s unfriendly from the other side, I can dish back unfriendly, too, because it’s a little upsetting” he said.
The NFL declined to comment on what Pegula said.
Benjamin was initially ruled to have had both feet down in the end zone in catching a 4-yard pass that would have put Buffalo up 17-13 in the final seconds of the first half of a 37-16 loss on Sunday.
The official’s call, however, was reversed upon a video review, with referee Craig Wrolstad saying replays revealed Benjamin did not have control of the ball when his first foot hit the turf. The Bills instead settled for a field goal in tying the score at 13.
Former NFL officiating VP Mike Pereira criticized the league by saying the official’s call was incorrectly reversed by “someone in a suit in an office in New York.”