The Bengals Scored A Touchdown Even Though A Ref’s Accidental Whistle Should Have Ruled The Play Dead

Joe Burrow threw for two touchdowns in the first half of the Cincinnati Bengals’ playoff game against the Las Vegas Raiders. While Burrow’s first score — a strike to CJ Uzomah — was notable for his tight end’s celebration after scoring, his second TD caused a little bit of controversy thanks to an errant whistle by the referee.

Burrow, facing a third-and-4 on the Raiders’ 10 right after the two-minute warning, rolled out to his right and didn’t look like he had much of anything. Right before going out of bounds, thought, Burrow saw Tyler Boyd in the end zone and let one rip, and the veteran wide receiver didn’t have to work all that hard to pick up six.

As you might notice in the clip, though, the Raiders seem awfully confused. That’s because, right before the ball got to Boyd, one of the referees blew their whistle, which made the Las Vegas players think the play was over. By the letter of the law, the play was immediately supposed to end when the referee blew it dead, even though things were still ongoing.

It would have been a tough break either way, because either the Raiders allowed on a touchdown on a play that should have stopped or the Bengals would have had a touchdown wiped off the board when it looked like Boyd would have caught it regardless — unless the audio is not synced up, the whistle appeared to have came when the ball was no more than a foot or two away for Boyd.

If there is a silver lining for the Raiders, though, it’s that Derek Carr marched them down the field to score on the next drive, and as a result, Cincinnati’s lead was only 20-13 heading into the locker room for halftime.