The Cincinnati Bengals are led by a rookie head coach, Zac Taylor, who should be well versed on NFL rules given his experience as a position coach in Miami and Los Angeles.
It just didn’t look that way at the end of Sunday’s game against the Bills.
With the Bengals down four points and just 21 seconds remaining in the game, Andy Dalton was picked off by Tre’Davious White to essentially lock up Buffalo’s win.
White went to the ground untouched but clearly gave himself up to end the play. He then proceeded to run to the end zone and celebrate with his teammates. Taylor somehow saw all that unfold and completely lost his cool, arguing for a safety.
In the NFL, the play is ruled dead when a ball-carrier gives himself up, which White undoubtedly did when he went to the ground and made no effort to advance the ball. Plus, White didn’t even start running towards the end zone until after the official whistled the play done.
Taylor’s only hope there was to argue for a safety, but sometimes you just need to accept the rules and realize the game is over. The entire tantrum looked beyond foolish.
