Bills’ Game-Clinching Play Over Dolphins Sparks Controversy

The refs may have gotten this one wrong.

The final play of Sunday’s Bills–Dolphins wild-card game sparked a controversial reaction over whether or not Bills running back Devin Singletary passed the first-down marker on his game-clinching run.

The official call was that Singletary succeeded on his third-down run, but the play quickly went under review as the call was debated on social media.

The announcers on the CBS broadcast seemed to be surprised with the call, as Jim Nantz said it looked “a foot short” before the officials marked it as a first down. But the call stood, essentially ending the game as a 34–31 victory for the Bills, who will advance to the divisional round.

A majority of the reaction on social media consisted of people thinking Singletary was short of the first down, meaning the Bills should’ve had to try to convert on fourth down, kick a 50-plus yard field goal or punt the ball back to the Dolphins with roughly 30 seconds left in the game. Some of the NFL world agreed with the officials, though.

Here’s some of the conflicting reaction from Twitter.