Were the Cowboys Screwed By a Missed Offensive Pass Interference Call?
The sports world was thrown into a frenzy Thursday night thanks to a no-call late in the NFL's opening game. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers may have benefited from a missed call that ended up leading to a 31-29 win over the Dallas Cowboys. So did the Cowboys get screwed? Let's examine the play.
The Bucs trailed 29-28 with 24 seconds left in the game. They faced a second-and-10 from the Cowboys' 42-yard line. Tom Brady dropped back and threw a perfect back-shoulder pass to Chris Godwin, who had Dallas cornerback Jourdan Lewis draped all over him. Godwin appeared to extend his arm to create space, caught the ball and went out of bounds at the Cowboys' 18-yard line with 18 seconds left.
Here's a look at the play in question:
And here's a closer look:
And a still:
Yes, it absolutely appears Godwin pushed off to get himself open. It's also worth noting that Lewis had his hands all over Godwin while the ball was in the air. By definition he could have been called for pass interference as well. Clearly Godwin's actions were more important to the play, he did far more between the two. It's like a missed offensive pass interference call.
The Bucs wound up throwing three balls out of bounds to kill the clock then Ryan Succop kicked the game-winning field goal for a 32-31 victory. Cowboys fans were not happy
Twitter was thrown into a debate over it, with Cowboys fans in particular freaking out over the no-call:
So yeah, there were some hurt feelings there. I'm sure Cowboys fans will move on and never bring it up again.