There are many reasons the Patriots lost to the Colts on Sunday, many of which will be addressed over the next week since they will finally be on their bye week. Now, there might be another controversy that the NFL will have to account for when addressing the ineptitude of its officials again in the days after Week 13 concludes.
Things were already bad when the officials missed a blatant helmet-to-helmet hit on tight end Hunter Henry early in the game, forcing him to spend some time in the blue medical tent and be cleared by the concussion specialists. It was the latest head hit by a defender on a Patriots player this season that was not penalized, with the last time causing Maye to be in concussion protocol for nearly a week.
In this past game, a similar situation happened that primarily went under the radar, but plenty of Patriots analysts and fans pointed out not long after the game ended.
The Boston Herald's Andrew Callahan broke down the moment in various photos and videos to show exactly what happened. It wasn't only a missed penalty, but it was also a potentially game-changing moment that robbed the Patriots of the possibility of winning the game down the stretch.
Officials seemingly ignored a chop block on Christian Barmore on the Colts' 2-point conversion. This would have been a 15-yard penalty, forcing Indianapolis to make a difficult decision about its approach after the touchdown.
It looks like Christian Barmore was pulled down from behind on the Colts’ game-winning 2-point conversion.
— Andrew Callahan (@_AndrewCallahan) December 1, 2024
Anthony Richardson ran at his gap. pic.twitter.com/pzLXUoe8bo pic.twitter.com/tUgOZWdWuJ
Patriots fans on Twitter/X further explained it, not excusing the team's loss but also recognizing how crucial it is to point out moments like this that continue to happen across the league year after year.
On top of that, player safety becomes an issue again, just like it was with the hit on Henry earlier in the game, yet the officials looked the other way again.
Overused statement. But the Patriots were *actually* robbed on the 2pt conversion. This is a chop in any era.
— ZeeBee (@BellinoZee) December 1, 2024
And a QB option w' a chop in b-gap by a sifter is 💯intentional.
How about cleaning up @nfl player safety instead of pretending to do it?
#patriots @patriots pic.twitter.com/H7f4kvz9cF
Had the flag been thrown, it would have forced the Colts to go for a 2-point conversion on the 17-yard line instead, or they would have had to attempt the extra point to tie the game. That's a significant miss that could have changed how the game ended and given the Patriots more time to either win the game outright or force overtime.
Unfortunately, it doesn't matter since it wasn't called in real-time, and it won't matter later if the NFL acknowledges their miss, like they often do.