Two controversial calls went against the Philadelphia Eagles in the fourth quarter of their 21-17 loss to the Denver Broncos on Sunday.
Referee Adrian Hill explained what went into a personal foul on linebacker Zack Baun and an overturned intentional grounding call initially called against quarterback Bo Nix on Denver’s final drive.
The Eagles led the Broncos 17-3 in the second half yet gave up 18 unanswered points in the fourth quarter of their first loss of the season, which snapped their 12-game win streak at Lincoln Financial Field dating back to last year.
Officials Picked Up An Intentional Grounding Flag
The Broncos had second-and-6 at their own 47-yard line when Jalyx Hunt pressured Nix into what Hill threw a flag for intentional grounding.
Yet, after consulting with his fellow officials, Hill and the referees agreed to pick up the flag, since they deemed running back Tyler Badie in the area of where Nix was throwing the ball.
“We have an O2O â thatâs our official-to-official communication system. My O2O was not working,” Hill said. “Grounding is a teamwork foul. I had intentional grounding. The line judge had that there was a receiver in the area â [No.] 28 â but I didnât hear the information over O2O so I threw the flag. The line judge came in and let me know that 28 indeed was in the area, and thatâs why we picked up the flag.â
The intentional grounding foul would have resulted in a 10-yard penalty and loss of down, which would have made it third-and-16. Instead, Nix hit wide receiver Courtland Sutton for a 16-yard gain that set Denver up at the Philadelphia 37.
Zack Baun Took A Costly Personal Foul Penalty
Still trailing 18-17 while defending a third-and-2 play at their 29-yard line on the ensuing set of downs, the Eagles thought they had gotten off the field when Andrew Mukuba stopped R.J. Harvey short of the line to gain.
Yet, Baun was trying to ensure Harvey didn’t get the first down — which would have effectively ended the game — but ended up taking a personal foul that set up Denver at the 14-yard line.
“The officials saw we had a prone player on the ground,” Hill said in an interview with a pool reporter. “He came in and hit the player that was prone on the ground when the play was over.”
Without the Baun personal foul, Philadelphia could have gotten the ball back before the two-minute warning — or with one timeout shortly after the time stoppage. It also would have forced Denver’s Will Lutz to make a 46-yard field goal, far less certain than the 36-yarder he ended up making that put the Broncos up by four points.
The Eagles still pushed the ball into field-goal range, though they could have gone into the red zone if Hill’s crew had called pass interference when quarterback Jalen Hurts tried to find tight end Dallas Goedert at the three-yard line.
“Our officials saw mutual hand fighting and hand-to-hand combat and did not see action that rose to the level of a foul on that play,â Hill said.
Calls may not have gone the Eagles‘ way, but coach Nick Sirianni did not blame the officiating for the loss.
“They all balance each other out,” Sirianni said. “Youâre going to get some that you think you should get; youâre going to get some thatâs going to go against you sometimes as well, so those guys do the best they can do and take a lot of pride in that.
“You just donât want to put yourself in those situations where itâs coming down to a decision made by somebody else.â
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