The Broncos mounted a fourth quarter comeback to defeat the previously undefeated Eagles on Sunday, but the win did not come without multiple questionable no-calls in the game.
At one point in the game, Broncos quarterback Bo Nix appeared to commit intentional grounding. After a delay, the officials threw a flag, only to pick it up instead of calling a penalty on Denver. The Broncos were then able to convert third down and keep driving.
After the game, referee Adrian Hill explained picking up the flag in the official pool report. “So what happened there, we have an O2O – that’s our official-to-official communication system," Hill said.
My O2O was not working. Grounding is a teamwork foul. I had intentional grounding. The line judge had that there was a receiver in the area – 28 – but I didn’t 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 that’s why we picked up the flag.”
Another controversial call came on the Eagles' final drive. After the Broncos took a 21-17 lead, the Eagles were left with 1:11 to try and score a touchdown to win the game. On the penultimate play of the game, quarterback Jalen Hurts attempted a pass downfield to tight end Dallas Goedert, but the pass fell incomplete. Many felt the Broncos should have been called for pass interference on the play, which would have put the Eagles in a much better position to try and score.
Goedert looks like he gets pulled down by the Broncos defenders but the refs don't throw a flag. pic.twitter.com/944sXuzlDI
— Rate the Refs (@Rate_the_Refs) October 5, 2025
No flag was thrown. Hill said of that no-call, “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."
While those non-calls were not the only reasons the Eagles lost, they did affect the game. Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni emphasized after the game that it's important not to leave the outcome in the hands of the officials or someone else anyway.
"You're going to get some that you think you should get, you're going to get some that's 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," Sirianni said, via John Clark of NBC Sports Philadelphia. "I got a lot of respect for the referees and we'll never put anything on that. Again, those things happen in split second situations. And then the review, same thing, so a lot of respect for what they have to do in real time. It's tough."
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Refs Explain Why They Didn't Call Pass Interference on Eagles' Final Drive vs. Broncos.
