FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — New England Patriots’ Bill Belichick, the league’s longest-serving head coach, reiterated Monday his stance that coaches should be allowed to challenge games under two minutes.
Belichick did so after being asked about a key play in the Minnesota Vikings’ thrilling 33-30 overtime win over the Buffalo Bills, which saw Buffalo receiver Gabe Davis’ 20-yard catch with 17 seconds remaining in the fourth Quarter has not been verified by officials.
NFL senior vice president of officiating Walt Anderson later said the game — which was crucial to scoring a crucial field goal to send the game into overtime — should have been reviewed and found incomplete.
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The NFL doesn’t allow coaches to challenge games in the last two minutes before halftime or the end of regulation, in part so they can’t strategically manipulate challenges to stop the clock.
“Provided the team has a challenge, they should have the opportunity to really challenge every game. I have that on record,” Belichick said in his video conference on Monday.
In a Monday interview on sports radio WEEI, Belichick added: “There have been other examples of this, games that have occurred in situations where teams couldn’t challenge because the rules were forbidden [it].
“I’m making progress and things like that you can’t challenge. I don’t talk about it. I’m saying that I don’t have the ability to challenge a play that could affect the outcome of the game — even calls like holding and passing interference and things like that — I don’t see why those plays can’t be verified [by a coach’s challenge].”
Belichick is in his 48th season as a coach in the NFL, his 28th as a head coach, making him one of the most influential voices in league affairs.
Kevin O’Connell, a freshman Minnesota head coach who was drafted as a quarterback by Belichick in 2008, said of Davis’ reception Sunday, “It was right in front of me. I didn’t think that was a catch. Darin mode, that must be something that comes from above either [in the press box with the replay official]or possibly New York [at the replay center]. We have not received any information about this. I asked.”
As for Belichick, whose team had the weekend off, he often prefers to keep his comments on NFL rules at the league’s annual meeting private among coaches.
After sharing his thoughts on Monday’s Davis game, he added: “The rules are the rules. The Competitions Committee and the League vote on these rules. Whatever they are, they are.”