Dean Blandino on Kelvin Benjamin’s TD reversal: ‘There just wasn’t anything obvious to overturn it’

Dean Blandino once sat on the hot seat that Al Riveron occupies as the NFL’s Vice President of officiating.

He fully understands how much hotter it has become since Sunday, when Riveron reversed an on-field ruling of a touchdown catch by Buffalo Bills wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin in the Bills’ loss at New England.

‘You have the ruling on the field, and that’s the key point’

Blandino, now a replay analyst for FOX Sports, didn’t agree with Riveron’s decision.

“You have the ruling on the field, and that’s the key point,” Blandino told Alex Marvez and Mark Dominik on the SiriusXM Blitz. “Whatever the ruling on the field is, that’s where you have to start. And then, when you’re looking at it on replay, it has to be obvious that the call on the field is incorrect in order to overturn it. I’ve been there, I’ve made these decisions for a lot of years in replay.”

‘When you’re looking at it on replay, it has to be obvious that the call on the field is incorrect’

As far as Blandino is concerned, more weight should have been given to the game officials on site.

“You always have to go back to the ruling on the field and I think what we saw in the game on Sunday was just a very technical decision, just trying to get too fine with it,” he said. “The foot did drag, you could see it drag. It was close as to whether he had control or not at that point at that point. The ruling on the field was a catch.

‘The foot did drag, you could see it drag’

“There just wasn’t anything obvious to overturn it. I think it was just an overly technical decision and one that I certainly didn’t agree with.”