Yet another Buffalo Bills playoff game ended in refereeing controversy this past weekend. This time, the debate centered on what qualifies as a catch, and opinions remain split. However, several NFL figures, including Travis Kelce, Greg Olsen, and even Joe Burrow, believe the officials got the call right.
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In case you missed it, here’s what happened. It was 3rd-and-11 with the Bills backed up at their own 36, and they took a deep shot. Josh Allen dropped back and launched a pass downfield to Brandin Cooks. The receiver initially appeared to make a spectacular catch, but Broncos defender Ja’Quan McMillian contested the play and wrestled the ball away from him.
Upon further review, it was deemed that Cooks did not complete the process of the catch, and the interception was upheld. It was a weird ruling that ended up being the turning point in the contest. After the game, Bills fans were upset about how it was handled, with some asking the league to intervene and overturn the game result. But unfortunately for them, former tight end-turned analyst Greg Olsen thinks that the refs got the call correct.
“I think because the catch was going to the ground, he’s not down by contact until the fall through the ground is completed. So I get the frustration,” Olsen said on New Heights at 35:43. “If I was the offensive player, if I was on the Bills, I would have been fighting my ass off too. But when you take a step back, and you just evaluate… It was a correct call in my opinion.”
In the heat of the moment, fans of the Bills went on a tirade. In what was supposed to be their best chance to win a Super Bowl in years, they felt like they had been cheated. However, Olsen, along with many others, thinks that the call on the field was the right one. And another player who thought that the refs got the controversial call correct was Bengals QB Joe Burrow.
“The amount of ppl that don’t understand what a catch is in the rule book flabbergasts me. And it’s not the officials. The two plays yesterday were not difficult calls, and they got them both right,” Burrow tweeted for the first time since April 2024.
According to Burrow, there should have been no controversy associated with either catch. He, too, believes that the officials got the calls right and that we all need to move on.
The amount of ppl that don’t understand what a catch is in the rule book flabbergasts me. And it’s not the officials. The two plays yesterday were not difficult calls, and they got them both right.
— Joey Burrow (@JoeyB) January 19, 2026
When Olsen and Travis Kelce saw Burrow’s reaction on the podcast, the tight end duo got a good kick out of his vocabulary.
“I love it. I don’t even care what he said to the world. I’m just glad he used the word flabbergasted,” Kelce responded.
“Flabbergasted. What a great word,” Olsen added.
It is indeed a great word that Burrow used. He was probably showing off his liberal arts side, something he earned with his college degree from LSU. In the process, he also made it clear how he truly feels about the controversial catch-interception ruling.
At the end of the day, the play was ruled an interception, which led directly to the Broncos’ game-winning drive. It was a controversial call that riled up the Buffalo fanbase. Much like last season’s QB sneak controversy, their year once again came down to a decision that could have gone either way.
However, current and former players like Kelce, Burrow, and Olsen all believed the call was ruled correctly. That carries weight when assessing its legitimacy. It’s a tough way for the Bills’ season to end, but sometimes, that’s just how the cookie crumbles.
