Bill Belichick on controversial overturned Vikings touchdown: ‘It’s an offensive league’

In the second quarter of Monday’s Wild Card matchup between the Minnesota Vikings and the Los Angeles Rams, a controversial call was made that took a touchdown off the board. And Bill Belichick used this as an opportunity to outline how much the NFL has stacked the deck against defensive players.

It appeared as if the Vikings had come up with a huge defensive play when Matthew Stafford seemingly fumbled, which was picked up by the Vikings and returned for a touchdown to tie the game at 10-10.

However, after an expedited review, it was determined that Stafford’s arm was actually going forward and that it was an incomplete pass attempt instead of a fumble, which resulted in the score being taken off the board for the Vikings.

Belichick, who was on the call of the game for the first half of the ManningCast on ESPN2, immediately took exception to Stafford “getting away” with this pass attempt.

“It’s an offensive league,” said Belichick moments after the call was overturned on the field. “What are you guys doin’? There’s no rules to help the defense in the NFL. You can get away with that, and they call it an incomplete pass. Wow, wow. It’s an offensive league. You guys should coach defense in the NFL; you’d know what it’s like.”

It seems like Belichick understood that the call that was made was likely the correct one based solely on the letter of the law in the NFL. After all, Stafford’s arm was going forward even if it was just an attempt to avoid the sack.

However, Belichick’s argument here is that this type of shovel pass shouldn’t be considered an actual pass attempt since it seems like Stafford’s sole purpose was to avoid a sack.

What Belichick also likely wasn’t too happy about may be that since it was first called a fumble and then later called an incomplete pass, officials couldn’t even call what appeared to be a pretty obvious intentional grounding call on Stafford’s pass attempt, as intentional grounding is a foul that is not reviewable.

It’s not exactly shocking to hear Belichick share this sentiment, as he has always been a defensive-minded coach first and foremost. And it’s safe to say that he wasn’t alone in being irritated at this call.