NFL fans react to controversial TD in Tampa Bay Buccaneers-Atlanta Falcons game

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost a close game to the Atlanta Falcons 31-26 on Sunday, erasing any hopes they had of a tiebreaker with Atlanta and making their hopes of winning the NFC South that much more difficult. But there was a certain play in the first quarter that sparked some controversy, and NFL fans took to social media to express their displeasure with how it happened.

With 7:19 left in the second quarter, Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins found tight end Kyle Pitts in the middle of the field. Pitts managed to evade several Buccaneers defenders to run and score, except he slowed down toward the end of his 49-yard touchdown run and Buccaneers safety Antoine WInfield Jr. caught up to him. The play was ruled a touchdown, but Winfield Jr. appeared to have dropped the ball just before it crossed the plane, with Pitts carelessly holding it at his side.

The referees reviewed the play and the ruling was upheld on the field. It was revealed shortly after that this was because they didn’t have a camera angle to look from to make the decision, and in a game that ended up decided by five points, people didn’t take it well.

These are some of the reactions to the work on social media from fans and neutral observers:

THIS IS CRAZY

The referees ruled this a touchdown, even though Kyle Pitts threw the ball before reaching the end zone.

The broadcast somehow didn’t have a pylon camera or a goal line camera just for this play.

CRAZY… pic.twitter.com/krwUTHN9UD

-MLFootball (@_MLFootball) October 27, 2024

Kyle Pitts was rescued by the fact that the Falcons are playing in the only NFL game without a pylon camera since the damn Nixon administration.

-Jay (GBI) (@GreatBigIdiot) October 27, 2024

Antoine Winfield was completely robbed. pic.twitter.com/5xm3qSUiIm

—Aaron Schill (@aaron_schill) October 27, 2024

let me fix your post
“Antoine Winfield Jr caught the ball and forced the fumble but the referees could not find any evidence due to lack of cameras” #GoBucs https://t.co/yHhhieHvit

– Ash (@bash_daniels7) October 27, 2024

The media had better access to innovative videos than the referees in the game lol. https://t.co/QjguySAeWQ

—Jon Ledyard (@LedyardNFLDraft) October 28, 2024

How come the NFL doesn’t have a pylon camera angle? It definitely looked like Winfield took the ball out of Pitt’s hands.

—Erjaam T. Hayes (@Eric_Jaames) October 27, 2024

Apparently the pylon camera only exists when they want to show a 15 angle of a touchdown and not when it can actually help referees do their job. https://t.co/5JK3YZtCa2

—Bailey Adams (@BaileyJAdams22) October 27, 2024

Why doesn’t the NFL have pylon cameras at every game? How much could that cost?

– Danny Heifetz (@Danny_Heifetz) October 27, 2024

$13,000,000,000: NFL National Revenue 2023
$2,560,000: 1x cost of 4 pylon cams in 32 stadiums
$12,997,440,000: Surplus https://t.co/2qlzIIWSFJ

-KD Drummond (@KDDrummondNFL) October 27, 2024

absolutely a fumble before crossing the goal line, how come we don’t have cameras on every tower? You’re a billion-dollar sports league.

—Michael Taylor (@MichaelDanger19) October 27, 2024

Atlanta-Tampa Bay just proved that we need universal cams for pylons. Every end zone, every stadium, every game.

-Nick Shook (@TheNickShook) October 27, 2024

As you can see, many were upset with the ruling. And now, the NFL may want to invest in more tower cameras when it comes to future contests.

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