ESPN Announcer Ripped for Saying Jets’ Win Over Bills Should Have Asterisk Because of Refs

ESPN’s John Parry thought the refs missed an important call on Xavier Gipson’s game-winning punt return TD.

The New York Jets beat the Buffalo Bills in dramatic fashion on Monday night, with undrafted rookie Xavier Gipson returning a punt 65 yards for a walk-off touchdown just minutes into overtime.

Moments after he crossed the goal line, however, one voice on ESPN’s Monday Night Football broadcast quickly tried to ruin the party by saying the refs missed a call on the return and the Jets’ win should come with an asterisk on it. This comes just a few days after NBC’s Mike Tirico said the Lions’ win over the Chiefs should have an asterisk. 

John Parry, a former NFL ref and current MNF rules expert, thought there should have been a tripping call on New York’s Chazz Surratt on the punt return.

Check this out: 

"You've gotta put an asterisk on it because there's a tripping call that was not made. A trip, a leg whip, right near the 23-yard line, No. 55, which would have brought the touchdown back."

ESPN's John Parry says that Jets LB Chazz Surratt should have been flagged on the GW-TD pic.twitter.com/QwP10ArAAx

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 12, 2023

If you watch the replay you can see Surratt falls before making a block but it doesn’t look like such an obvious tripping call at all. 

NFL fans ripped him:

Nonsense. Calls get missed. Guys get hurt. Life’s not fair

Stop talking about asterisks in sports, and stop talking about them at all if you can’t pronounce “asterisk” https://t.co/1p2qtfeRFs

— Joel Sebastianelli (@JJSebastianelli) September 12, 2023

John Parry being a real wet blanket with the “put an asterisk on it, they missed a tripping penalty.”

Get lost with that, the guy had no shot at making the tackle. pic.twitter.com/9Bp53Snyn1

— Alex Smith (@AlexSmithSNY) September 12, 2023

"You gotta put an asterisk on it" no you absolutely do not John Parry, that sounds super lame, go collect some stamps or something

— Benjamin Solak (@BenjaminSolak) September 12, 2023

As a lifelong Bills fan, let me say this: Who cares? Jets deserved the win. Just awful https://t.co/Dn7bXTAJz7

— Brent Brookhouse (@brentbrookhouse) September 12, 2023

We gonna put an asterisk on it every time the bills or chiefs lose to an inferior team? Lol https://t.co/2vShobQcto

— LeChurch 🇺🇸 (@chuuuuuuuuuch) September 12, 2023

John Parry sounded like a dude who had Bills win as the last leg of a big parlay. Do your job you baby. https://t.co/5Lnu47A0im

— Lakers Poems (@JerWhitten) September 12, 2023

Bro nobody is ever calling that a trip 😂 Bills poverty https://t.co/Rcgm6ly1FI

— Blake (@BBranzelle10) September 12, 2023

Why just why are these announcers talking about asterisks. It’s the NFL.

The gap between winning and losing is often just a handful of plays going the other way. Guys are paid a lot of money to do their jobs and saying stuff like that is just disrespectful https://t.co/mWUX8lyXzf

— Nicky G 🐻⬇️ (@NickyGsCards) September 12, 2023