FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick said Monday that Indianapolis Colts receiver T.Y. Hilton should have been ejected from Saturday’s game for pushing an official to the ground, and questioned the NFL’s officiating department why he wasn’t.
Belichick was speaking for the first time since having a chance to review his team’s 27-17 loss to the Colts, and had been asked about the third-quarter ejections of Patriots safety Kyle Dugger and Colts receiver Michael Pittman Jr..
Dugger and Pittman scrapped after a running play, and it soon became a larger scrum. As order was attempting to be restored, Hilton was seen pushing umpire Tra Blake to the ground.
Belichick seemed as peeved about that as Dugger and Pittman being ejected.
“Bottom line is both players got ejected. I would say I understand that. Whether I agree with it or not, that’s a whole another discussion. [But] I don’t understand why T.Y. Hilton wasn’t ejected for contacting an official. Intentionally or unintentionally, that has no bearing on the play. And those plays are reviewable and are reviewed,” he said.
“You’d have to talk to the officials about that. They’re the ones that made the call.”
In 2018, the NFL instituted a rule change allowing the league’s command center in New York to eject players for a non-football act such as punching or fighting.
Belichick’s ire seems to be directed to the command center reviewing the video of the Dugger/Pittman scrum on Saturday night to assist referee Carl Cheffers’ decision-making process, and not taking such an action with Hilton, the Colts’ No. 2 receiver who later made a 19-yard catch.
“Based on the rule, I don’t see why T.Y. Hilton wasn’t ejected. I mean, he pushed an official. That was pretty clear. But that wasn’t called at all. That’s a clear-cut ejection to me,” he said.
Belichick said he has spoken with his players regularly about situations similar to what unfolded with Dugger and Pittman.
As for what led up to the two being…
Source : espn
