Bills Coaches Confront Officials, Call Them "A Disgrace To The NFL"

Some of the Bills didn’t have much to add after Sunday’s 23-20 loss the Eagles—like RB LeSean McCoy, who spent the week talking not-so-nice about his former coach, even reportedly hanging up on Chip Kelly when he called to chat. Following the final whistle, McCoy bolted from the field and dismissed reporters with a simple “I’ve got nothing to say.”

Then there was the scene in the tunnel, with Bills head coach Rex Ryan and staff making sure to leave at the same time as the officials, haranguing them the entire way. WKBW’s Joe Buscaglia caught some of the exchange on video:

The with the line you hear: “that’s a disgrace to the NFL.”

The Bills were penalized 15 times for 101 yards (compared to just five and 55 for the Eagles). But a flag disparity isn’t enough to claim unfairness: when a team or a unit gets manhandled, it resorts to fouls. Buffalo’s offensive line was a mess, taking eight penalties— seven of them accepted for 70 yards.

“It is impossible to win when you make that many penalties,” guard Richie Incognito said. “We have to take ownership in the fact that we did not get it done in crunch time.”

The Bills took specific issue with a Zach Ertz 41-yard catch-and-run in the fourth quarter, set up by what they believed was an illegal pick by WR Josh Huff. “We all know what’s going on, man,” Boobie Dixon said. “When do you ever see players run into each other like that on the field? That just don’t accidentally happen.”

But Rex Ryan was conciliatory toward the officials in his postgame press conference, having calmed down enough to say, somewhat drily, “that crew in particular is an outstanding crew and I’m sure they got it right.”

It’s frustration talking. The Bills have lost three of their last four, and at 6-7—with three 8-5 AFC teams in the wild-card hunt—it’s just about impossible for Buffalo to make the playoffs. Buffalo is just 3-3 against the AFC South and NFC East, both of which could see every team finish under .500. That’s a good summary of the 2015 Bills: sometimes good enough to beat bad teams, not good enough to avoid beating themselves.