NFL fans crushed the refs for gifting the Bills a controversial game-icing first down

Seemingly against all odds, the Miami Dolphins went into Western New York on Sunday and gave the Buffalo Bills all they could handle. Even with backup Skylar Thompson at the helm of the Dolphins’ offense — who played an admirable game in his own right — the Dolphins never stopped coming.

They got into Josh Allen’s head, who turned the ball over three times. After a Tony Romo jinx, defensive tackle Zach Sieler revved the party up with a wild big-man score. And, in the end, despite egregious time management miscues on their final offensive possession, the Dolphins still had a faint chance of extending this instant classic to overtime.

All they had to do was stop the Bills from getting a first down as they tried to ice the clock. Simple, right? Not necessarily an easy task, but it’s a straightforward path to getting the ball back. Unfortunately, the officiating crew on hand had different ideas.

With the Dolphins’ season on the line, Devin Singletary took a third-down handoff running on the left side and gained a rather generous Herculean seven yards to ice the game in a 34-31 Bills win. That is to say, Singletary seemed to be well short from various angles, but he was strangely awarded the controversial first down anyway.

Did Devin Singletary get the first down?

(via @NFL)pic.twitter.com/YgsGftHcZU

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) January 15, 2023

Let’s take a closer look at a still image of Singletary as he was stood up by Dolphins defenders:

The yellow broadcast line isn’t official, but there’s a lot of evident space between Singletary and where the down marker is. Since the initial call on the field was a Singletary first down, any review had to be clear to overturn. Oh yeah, you know how this one ends: The call stood because there wasn’t enough evidence to push it the other way.

Now, the Dolphins would have had to make a likely fourth-and-short stop with the Human Behemoth Allen potentially putting himself in position for a simple QB sneak. And even then, they’d still have to get a tying long field goal with mere seconds remaining on the clock. Not a sure thing and, yes, improbable, but it feels like Miami was robbed of the first step in that game-tying path on Singletary’s “first down.”

Instead of a last-gasp desperate stop/offensive heave, the Dolphins’ season ends with a clumsy whimper instigated by what resembles poor officiating.