Patriots Think Refs Missed Game-Deciding Call Against Colts

The New England Patriots think NFL referees missed a game-deciding call against the Indianapolis Colts.

Dec 1, 2024; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo and Indianapolis Colts Shane Steichen shake hands at the end of the game at Gillette Stadium. / Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images

The New England Patriots suffered a heartbreaking defeat to the Indianapolis Colts yesterday. It was a crushing loss in the final minute of the game that dropped them to 3-10 on the season.

With 12 seconds left in the game, the Colts scored a touchdown on a pass from Anthony Richardson to Alec Pierce. Indianapolis head coach Shane Steichen opted to go for a two-point conversion to win the game.

Richardson took the snap and ran up the middle and into the end zone.

Unfortunately, after further reviewing a video of the play, it appears that the NFL referees missed a call. Christian Barmore, the Patriots' star defensive tackle, was clearly held.

Jerod Mayo, New England's head coach, spoke out with his thoughts on the missed call.

“Look, they didn't call it,” Mayo said on Webex. “I thought he got held. I watched the film. I mean, it's pretty clear to me, but it wasn't called. So, there's no excuses from me on that.”

Here is the video of the play that you can watch for yourself:

I understand wanting to swallow the whistles with the game on the line, but the hold on Christian Barmore on the 2-point conversion was, uhhhhh, egregious. pic.twitter.com/hIPvl0lmRO

— Chris Mason (@ByChrisMason) December 1, 2024

Seeing that big of a missed call on such a big game-deciding play is depressing. While it's frustrating, there is absolutely nothing that the Patriots can do about it.

They simply have to move on with another loss on their record.

All season long, the NFL referees have been bad. New England has suffered some, but there have been many horrible missed calls and many horrible calls as well. The trend of the refereeing getting worse has continued to get worse over the last few years.

Now, the Patriots will head into their Week 14 bye week and look to regroup for the last stretch of the season. They have had a rough all-around year, but adding this kind of missed call to their list of losses makes it feel even worse after how hard they played to pick up the win.

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