Bills DC Dennis Thurman calls refs a 'disgrace to the NFL'
By Steve DelVecchio
The Bills were penalized 15 times for 101 yards on Sunday, which is one of the main reasons they suffered a 23-20 loss to the Eagles, who had just five penalties. It probably goes without saying that Rex Ryan and his staff disagreed with many of the calls.
For Bills defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman, that is an understatement. After the game, Thurman was spotted in the tunnel calling the officiating crew a “disgrace to the NFL.”
Ryan was also barking at the crew, and you could see him angrily duck under the rope and knock it over while heading to the locker room. One of the plays the Bills were particularly furious about was the 41-yard catch from Eagles tight end Zach Ertz that set up a go-ahead field goal with 3:26 remaining. Buffalo thought offensive pass interference should have been called for an illegal pick.
Rex Ryan not happy with the officials after the game. In their ear the whole way off the field #Bills pic.twitter.com/oaawjizFZn
— Joe Buscaglia (@JoeBuscaglia) December 13, 2015
When asked about the officiating after the game, Ryan bit his tongue.
“I thought we were the better team today, but obviously we got beat,” he said, according to Vic Carucci of The Buffalo News. “Penalties – we’ve got ourselves to blame. You can’t have that many penalties, obviously, and it’s a no-brainer when you jump offside a zillion times and we got – I don’t know how many holding calls, but it looked like it was a record out there. We fumbled a punt.”
Ryan has been loaded with excuses (this one was the best) after losing games this season, but the Bills can’t claim every officiating crew is out to get them. They have had 124 accepted penalties this season, which is the second-most in the NFL behind only Tampa Bay’s 123. Ryan’s 6-7 team has been incredibly undisciplined all season.
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