There were several minutes of confusion immediately following Baltimore kicker Justin Tucker’s game-winning field goal Sunday night.
The ball soared over the right goal post and more than a few Patriots players reacted as if Tucker had missed.
Pats head coach Bill Belichick insists that he was only looking for an explanation from the officials when he grabbed the arm of a ref following Sunday’s loss.
“I’ve coached in this league a long time and have never been penalized, never had any incidents with officials or anything like that,” Belichick said. “I’ve never meant any disrespect or in any way tried to abuse or be disrespectful to the officials and the job that they do. I was trying to get an explanation for obviously an important call and play in that game.
“I just wasn’t sure from where I was standing whether the ball, when it went over the crossbar, was above the upright or in between or not in between the upright, so by rule if the ball isn’t over the crossbar and it’s either inside or outside of the upright, that’s reviewable,” Belichick said. “If it’s over the top of the upright, then it’s not reviewable, but I couldn’t tell from my angle when the ball crossed the crossbar where it was.”
