FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — An inexplicable inadvertent whistle by an official nearly cost the Patriots their undefeated season Monday night.
The Patriots would recover from the officials’ gaffe and beat the Bills 20-13 at Gillette Stadium to improve to 10-0, but at the time it looked as if the mistake would boost the Bills to an upset.
Here’s how it went down:
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady rolled to his right to avoid the rush and connected with receiver Danny Amendola, who spun free of Buffalo cornerback Ronald Darby at the New England 45-yard line with nothing but green turf between himself and the end zone.
But line judge Gary Arthur inexplicably blew the whistle and the players stopped playing
Had Amendola kept running for the touchdown, it would have given the Patriots a commanding 17-3 lead.
After the officials conferred, the Patriots were awarded the 14 yards Amendola gained on the catch, but no yards after the catch. Another 15 yards were tacked on for a sideline interference penalty called on Bills coach Rex Ryan, who was standing on the white chalk near Arthur.
“I’m not sure what happened there,’’ Ryan said. “I’ll let [the officials] explain it. They’re more articulate than I am.’’
Patriots coach Bill Belichick shrugged off the confusing play after the game, which was surely easier to do after a victory than had his team lost because of it.
“They explained exactly what happened,’’ Belichick said. “What else is there to do?’’
The play put the ball on the Buffalo 40, but the Patriots offense stalled from there.
That left Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski — who had made all 22 of his attempts this season and his previous 52 at home — with a 54-yard attempt. It drifted wide right, his first miss since last season, leaving the home fans irate.
It turned out to be a 14-point swing when the Bills took the ensuring possession and tied the game 10-10 on a 27-yard LeSean McCoy scoring run.
As usual, though, the Patriots had an answer, taking a 17-10 lead on a 6-yard James White scoring run with 5:55 remaining in the third. It came one play after Brady connected with Amendola for 41 yards, burning a Buffalo blitz.
Remarkably, the Patriots can clinch their seventh consecutive division title by next Sunday night if the Jets lose to the Dolphins and the Patriots beat the Broncos in Denver.
The 10-0 Patriots’ win over the 5-5 Bills leaves the 5-5 Jets as the only remaining team in the division that can catch them.
If both the Patriots and Jets win next week, they could still both finish 11-5, and if that scenario played out, the Jets would win the tiebreaker with a better record against common opponents.
The Patriots and Jets meet on Dec. 27 at MetLife Stadium, although the chance of that game having any bearing on the division winner is as likely as Belichick kissing Ryan’s high school ring.
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