Atlanta Falcons robbed of a touchdown late in Buffalo

The Atlanta Falcons were likely never going to beat the Buffalo Bills, let’s be honest here. They were overmatched and would need a huge game from Matt Ryan and their defense to have any hope of pulling off the upset in what ended as a 29-15 loss.

Twice Buffalo jumped out to a two-score lead and seemingly ended the game and Atlanta’s playoff hopes. The first time the Bills seemingly ended the game Josh Allen decided to get far too fancy and started throwing bombs to no one in particular.

Two interceptions later Atlanta clawed back and were up 15-14 and officially wouldn’t score again for the rest of the game. Buffalo went up two scores in the second half to set the stage for the play that would end the game and Atlanta’s playoff hopes.

Matt Ryan led the Atlanta Falcons on a clutch touchdown drive to put the game back within reach before the officials took it away

Ryan led a clutch drive sealing it with a slow and rambling scramble towards the end zone Ryan dove in as Jordan Poyer took a late cheap shot diving on top of Ryan. Ryan let Jordan know he didn’t appreciate the shot and was flagged for taunting. The taunting penalty was fine if weren’t for what followed.

Ryan was ruled short of the end zone having given himself up and thus down before he was contacted by Poyer. The taunting penalty stood and Atlanta’s drive was all but over as they were outside the fifteen with only two shots at the end zone.

What made this call so ridiculous was the fact that if Ryan were indeed giving himself up there should have been a flag on Poyer for the contact. Jumping on top of a quarterback who is truly giving himself up is a flag and it should have been thrown before Ryan ever taunted the safety.

The taunting call happened after two things happened Ryan scored and Poyer dove on top of him taking a cheap shot. If Ryan didn’t score it was because he wasn’t a runner and was ruled down in which case Poyer should have been flagged and Atlanta would have had the ball well inside the one. Instead, the officials threw the flag for the wrong penalty and decided a game that was becoming a surprising contest.

Would Atlanta have gotten a stop and completed the comeback? Likely not, however, that is something we will never truly know considering the officials took it upon themselves to make an egregious call and for all intents and purposes end the game and Atlanta’s season.