It’s been a long night for the NFL referees on Monday night as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers challenged the Detroit Lions at Ford Field. Buccaneers fans were up in arms, though, as one particular call went against them in the fourth quarter.
Tampa Bay tight end Cade Otton made a spectacular catch on a pass from Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield and stretched out to get a first down. But Lions head coach Dan Campbell challenged the first-down call on the field. Eventually, the lead referee ruled that Otton was just inches short of a first down.
That call set off Buccaneers fans online with a lot of anger.
What Were Buccaneers Fans Saying After Referee’s Call?
On replays shown on the ABC-ESPN broadcast with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman on the call, Otton made the catch and stretched out.
A Lions defender made the tackle, but Otton was ruled short of the first-down marker.
Bucs’ Cade Otton was determined to be short of the 1st down making the Lions’ challenge successful.
Did the refs get this one right? 🤔pic.twitter.com/xhdIH61pRQ
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) October 21, 2025
One fan wanted to point out what the referees did on the field and could not believe it. The fan wrote on X, “These officials just overturned their own call on an unsuccessful challenge. How the hell do you do that??? They called first down on the field and Detroit challenged the catch not the spot.”
These officials just overturned their own call on an unsuccessful challenge. How the hell do you do that??? They called first down on the field and Detroit challenged the catch not the spot.
— Coach_RCAnderson (@CRcanderson) October 21, 2025
Another fan was more blunt in his comment and wrote, “HOW THE F**K IS THET CLEAR AND OBVIOUS?!?!” This fan was horrified after hearing the referee say that a call was made on a second look at the play. The fan posted on X, “Refs say “After a second look”, which I’ve NEVER heard before, the call is overturned AGAIN. Turnover, and the Lions have the ball”.
After the game ended, NFL Network Insider Tom Pelissero posted a conversation that took place. Pelissero wrote: “NFL Vice President of Instant Replay Mark Butterworth to pool reporter Nolan Bianchi on the “second look” overturn in Detroit.
NFL Vice President of Instant Replay Mark Butterworth to pool reporter Nolan Bianchi on the “second look” overturn in Detroit: “We were having issues with the referee’s O2O (official-to-official communication system), which is why he was brought back to the monitor.” pic.twitter.com/xRVjDtLVAD
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) October 21, 2025
“We did look at the spot,” Butterworth said. “We were trying to mirror angles together. Later in the process we received an enhanced view from broadcast that showed that when the knee was down, the ball was short of the line to gain.”
“We were having issues with the referee’s O2O (official-to-official communication system), which is why he was brought back to the monitor,” Butterworth added. “We did not show him anything on the screen at that point, it was simply to communicate to clean up the ruling on the field.”
As for this fan, the play looked like it showed inconclusive evidence on the call on the field. The fan wrote, “So replay upheld the play and then replay overturned the play? That sounds… like inconclusive video evidence to me.”
This fan was confused about what was ruled on the field, too. The fan shared thoughts on X and wrote, “Wait. Didn’t Detroit challenge the catch, and not the spot of the ball? How can you challenge two different things? And how can the refs change their call after all that time passed?”
As for this fan, the person was looking at the fact that Otton didn’t have the ball move out of his hands on the play. The fan wrote, “The ball literally didn’t move! It was in Cade’s shoulder! He had control! Plus when it’s a decision between the 2.. it goes to the Offense even the TV ref said you can’t overturn.. Yet NY overturned it. They want the Lions to win clearly bc they b**ched so much over last weekend”.
How about this fan who also questioned the call on the field? The fan wrote, “Lions just got a BOGO challenge lol refs overturned something that wasn’t challenged”.
Entering Monday night’s game, according to the PFSN NFL Offense Impact metrics, the Lions offense had an 89.0 Offense Impact Score, ranke fifth in the league and graded out to a B+.
The Buccaneers-Lions game still has some time left for more questionable calls.
