TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The Tampa Bay Buccaneers left New Orleans with a dominant 23-3 victory over the Saints, but a pair of questionable calls by NFL officials kept it from being even worse for the home team.
While leading 7-0 in the second quarter, Tampa Bay defender Antoine Winfield Jr. picked up a fumble and returned it 47 yards for what should have been the defense’s second touchdown on the day.
The problem? An official on the other side of the field, away from the play, apparently blew his whistle after the fumble recovery. Neither team heard the whistle, as evidenced by the Saints players’ efforts to stop the fumble return, but the officials said the play had been blown dead.
Even the broadcasting crew didn’t hear a whistle, calling for a replay during the broadcast, which confirmed the cameras on the field did not pick up any whistle.
Instead of a 14-0 lead and a pair of defensive touchdowns, Tampa simply gained possession of the ball, but that wasn’t the only time a call went against the Tampa Bay defense in the Big Easy.
Later in the game, Winfield seemingly recovered another Saints fumble, only for the officials to say the runner was down before the ball came loose. Once again, the broadcast replay didn’t seem to agree with the official’s call. A few moments later, Winfield made sure the officials couldn’t screw up by intercepting a pass from quarterback Tyler Shough late in the third quarter.
Yet somehow the refs still found a way to make an impact on the play, calling Winfield down by contact after he had run the interception back for what seemed like another defensive score.
During his media availability on Monday, Tampa Bay Head Coach Todd Bowles was asked if the team had received any clarity on the ruling regarding the “erroneous whistle.”
“Absolutely none,” Bowles said.
Tampa now heads into its Bye week hopeful that important pieces on offense, such as Chris Godwin, Bucky Irving, and Luke Goedeke, might be able to return in time for the team’s week 10 showdown at home against the New England Patriots.