‘You’ve got to let us play’: Patriots sound off on controversial penalties

FOXBOROUGH — The Patriots desperately needed a stop.

As the Buffalo Bills were threatening to overcome their 21-point deficit, the Patriots forced them to a crucial fourth-and-3 scenario. If they could force a turnover on downs, their offense would receive possession up by three points with 10 minutes to play.

It would be up to Josh Allen to challenge the Patriots' defense, which allowed Allen to send a high-arching ball down the field to Khalil Shakir with Marcus Jones tightly contesting the football. After the two’s battle continued through the air, it appeared Jones had won the contest when he rose to his feet while holding the football. He had intercepted the football.

So it seemed.

A flag followed seconds later, cueing crew chief John Hussey to declare the ball was caught by Shakir and Jones had interfered with Shakir's ability to catch the pass. The Bills suddenly received possession inside the red zone before scoring a go-ahead touchdown, ending New England’s 10-game win streak with a 35-31 defeat to Buffalo at home.

“I would say I was trying to get back in the face, and then I turned around and came down with the ball, but the ref called a PI,” Jones said. “So that's what he called.

“But, I mean, the play is called by the referee, so at the end of the day, he called it a pass interference.”

The controversial call was not the sole reason why the Patriots lost Sunday. They scored 21 unanswered points early in the first half before taking a 24-7 advantage at halftime. It wasn’t enough to hold off Allen and his explosive offense, which responded with three straight second-half touchdowns. Following the debatable pass interference call, TreVeyon Henderson made a back cut to score a 65-yard touchdown to give his team the lead again.

“The same guy thought it was his penalty the same way,” Mike Vrabel said. “So, I mean it's a judgment call. Whether I disagree with it or not, it doesn't matter. He called it. It's how this thing goes.”

Carlton Davis was not so forgiving about the play as Jones or Vrabel were, disagreeing with the timing of the flag relative to the play's conclusion. Davis, who exited the game with a groin injury but returned, was called for a pass interference in the fourth quarter. It occurred only minutes after Henderson’s run and continued a Buffalo drive that concluded with an 11-yard touchdown rush by James Cook.

“You can see how late the flag came out,” Davis said. “If it’s a flag, it’s like definitive, throw the flag. If it’s not a flag, in a close game like this, you’ve got to let us play. So just by seeing on how late the flag came in, I think we all (were) thinking the same thing.”

Ultimately, neither pass interference penalty cost the Patriots a win over the Bills, who gained one game in the AFC East standings. Buffalo is still a game behind New England, meaning if each team wins out its remaining contest, the Patriots will win the AFC East.

Perhaps a consolation prize for the Patriots given what was at stake Sunday.

“We have an opportunity to improve like we have when we won, same as today when we lost and came up short. But there's a lot of good stuff in there that I'm proud of and that we'll be able to use as a positive, and a lot of stuff that we have to correct and make sure that we fix, and we'll do that tomorrow and try to get as healthy as we can, and put a plan together for Baltimore.”