Joe Burrow on NFL Playoff Controversies: No Blame on Refs

Although Joe Burrow, the star quarterback of the Cincinnati Bengals, is not in the playoffs, he wanted to give his opinion on some controversial actions during the post-season games.

The debate over catching or not catching, involving Buffalo Bills wide receiver Brandin Cooks, continues to be talked about after the team’s divisional round loss to the Denver Broncos on Saturday night. While many people have given their opinions on this contentious action, the other two divisional round games on Sunday also had questionable receiving decisions.

Burrow seems to side with the referees in all cases. “The amount of people who don’t understand what a catch is in the rules amazes me. And it’s not the refs,” Burrow wrote on X. “Both plays yesterday weren’t tough calls, and they judged them both well.”

The action involving Cooks continues to be a sore point for football fans, not to mention the city of Buffalo. If it had been ruled a reception, Matt Prater could have scored the game-winning field goal, and the Bills would have advanced against New England.

Instead, the play was ruled an interception by the Broncos, who ultimately won the game and advanced to the AFC Championship Game.

As for the two actions Burrow is referring to in his tweet, it’s unclear exactly what he’s talking about, but there was an action in every game on Sunday where the debate arose. First, Houston Texans wide receiver Xavier Hutchinson lost the ball, but the action was ruled a catch after review by the officials. Then, Los Angeles Rams star Davante Adams experienced a similar situation when his knee hit the ground, but he lost the ball.

In both cases, the offense maintained control of the ball, although some felt that Cooks’ action should have had the same result.

NFL rules analyst Walt Anderson weighed in on the interception for the Broncos, saying Ja’Quan McMillan did indeed snatch the ball out of the hands of Cooks, who he said never had complete control of it.

“The replay gives all these angles to look and see if the call on the field was wrong or right,” Anderson said on NFL Network. “If you can confirm that the decision on the field is correct, they really want to move the game forward, and they don’t want unnecessary stoppages.”

Sean McDermott, who has since been fired as head coach of the Bills, was furious with how the call was upheld. He wanted the referees to carefully review the action, which led him to call a timeout.

“It would seem logical to me… that the head referee would come over and want to look at it, just to make sure that everyone from here in the stadium to there is on the same page. It’s too big a play, in my opinion, and a play that potentially decided the game as well, to not slow it down,” McDermott said.

“I have a hard time understanding why the decision was made the way it was. If it was made that way, then why wasn’t it slowed down just to make sure we’re doing this right? That would have made a lot of sense to me, to make sure we’re doing it right. Because it’s a crucial action in the game. We have the ball at 20 yards, maybe for a game-winning field goal there. So I’ll leave it at that.”

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Scott Thompson is a sports editor for Fox News Digital.

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