What referees told Mike Vrabel after controversial non-call in Patriots win over Ravens

While the New England Patriots' 11-point fourth quarter comeback over the Baltimore Ravens will be the biggest story to come out of Sunday night, one decision by the officials will have plenty of headlines on its own. That's not about a call that they made, but one that they didn't make.

Down three, the Patriots got the ball with just over five minutes to go in the game, backed up to their own 11-yard line. After a couple of chunk plays Patriots quarterback Drake Maye decided to try to flip the field, throwing deep to wide receiver Kayshon Boutte in single coverage inside the opposing 10 yard line.

Boutte was able to get behind Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey, and as he turned for the ball the Ravens corner wrapped his arms around him - before the ball got there. Humphrey started falling to the ground and pulled Boutte with him, which resulted in Boutte trying to catch the ball while falling back.

For a second Boutte had a chance to make the catch despite the contact, but lost control of the ball as his head hit the turf (he'd end up leaving the game with a head injury). Depsite the drop it looked like the Patriots were still going to get the yardage though, after what appeared to be a clear pass interfernece call. Right?

Right?

Wrong.

To the bewilderment of some on the Patriots' sideline, those in the NBC broadcast booth, and likely plenty of fans watching, the flag never came. With the NFL having a recent trend of refs throwing flags noticably late, it seemed like one had to be coming. But, it didn't.

After the game, New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel was asked if he was given any reasoning for the non-call on the field.

“No. Here’s what the explanation I got. ‘You have to survive the ground,’" Vrabel said. 'Survive the ground' refers to part of the catch rule itself, meaning the referees were explaining to Vrabel why it wasn't a catch, rather than why it wasn't a penalty.

"I said 'I’m very aware of the catch rule,’" Vrabel added in retelling the interaction to the media. "But ,that’s all I got.”

Prior to that Vrabel did make one other reference to the play, when talking about the performance of the receivers during the game.

“It’s great to see Mack [Hollins] make plays for us. Kyle [Williams], Kayshon. I mean, unfortunate for Kayshon. The penalty or whatever they called over there is completely - whatever they called over there," Vrabel said. "Then his ability to go down, which I thought he was competing for that ball, and I thought we were going to have that one. But Kayshon is going to help us out. All the receivers are going to play roles throughout this year.”

The game's referee crew, led by Brad Rogers, has had a 'let them play' approach all season when it comes to defensive pass interference. They'e thrown just 10 DPI flags total this year, which is the fourth-fewest in the NFL. No other DPI flags were thrown in the game, although there was a questionable offensive pass interference flag thrown on Boutte late in the third quarter.

Ironically, the missed DPI call may have ended up helping the Patriots. They rallied after that play, and Maye led the offense the length of the field to score on a nine-play, 89-yard march that took 2:55 off the clock. Had they been given all of that penalty yardage, Baltimore likely would have gotten the ball back with much more time left to answer the score.

So, the penalty ultimately didn't impact the outcome of the game. That's always good, but the play was what it was - and on national TV. In a year where suspect officiating has been a story around the league, that's another glaring example for the whole world to see.