New England Patriots
“That’s pass interference. That’s obvious pass interference, Cris. Not a hard question at all.”
The Patriots might have left Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium with a 28-24 comeback win over the Ravens.
But Drake Maye and New England’s fourth-quarter comeback was nearly negated by a brutal missed call that had many — including the NBC broadcast booth — shaking their heads.
Down 24-21, Maye and the Patriots were staring at a 1st-and-10 from their own 44-yard line with a little over three minutes left in regulation.
After moving the chains off a couple of crossing routes, Maye opted to uncork a throw deep down the field to Kayshon Boutte — with the QB’s top deep threat attempting to corral the offering near the end zone.
As Boutte braced himself for the catch, he was brought down by Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey — who was wrapped around Boutte’s legs as the wideout attempted to corral the football. Boutte, who slammed his head off the turf after getting wrapped up by Humphrey, was unable to reel in the catch.
Even if the play didn’t result in a catch on the part of Boutte, NBC’s Sunday Night Football broadcast team of Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth were floored that the officials didn’t whistle Humphrey for pass interference on the play.
“Boutte tackled by Humphrey, who slaps the ball away!” Tirico said as the sequence played out.
“What just happened?” Collinsworth added.
“I don’t see a flag, and it was not a catch because it got slapped away,” Tirico responded. “And now there’s a conversation. It’s called incomplete. And is there no flag on the play?”
After the additional replays were shown, Collinsworth was confused as to why there was no flag that hit the turf.
“Oh, that’s a tackle on the part of Humphrey,” Collinsworth said. “And the ball never got settled, and then he just swatted the thing away!”
“Oh my goodness!” Tirico responded. “We saw it live!”
After bringing in rules analyst Terry McAulay for his insight, Collinsworth put McAulay on the spot after the former official first noted that Boutte’s attempt wasn’t going to be ruled a catch.
“Now, a harder question,” Collinsworth said. “Why is that not pass interference?”
“It’s not really hard,” McAulay said with a laugh. “That’s pass interference. That’s obvious pass interference, Cris. Not a hard question at all.”
Postgame, Vrabel was asked if he received an explanation from the officials over the lack of a defensive pass interference call against Humphrey.
“No. Here’s the explanation that I got, ‘You have to survive the ground.’ I said, ‘I’m very aware of the catch rule.’ But that’s all I got,” Vrabel said.
Despite that setback, New England didn’t let the non-call squander their fourth-quarter comeback.
Faced with a 4th-and-2 situation from Baltimore’s 48-yard-line, Maye hit Stefon Diggs for 21 yards — pushing the ball closer and closer to the red zone. Just two plays later, Rhamondre Stevenson broke through for a 21-yard touchdown run to put New England ahead for good.
New England might have took advantage of a Ravens team playing a majority of Sunday’s game without Lamar Jackson.
But the Patriots also overcame plenty of adversity in that win, be it an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter, several injuries across the depth chart, and that brutal non-call in crunch time.
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