Hardly a sports game gets played where someone is not complaining about the officiating; but sometimes those complaints are warranted.

The NFL’s Super Wild Card weekend got off to a controversial start after a controversial call was made in the second quarter of first wild card game between the Las Vegas Raiders and the Cincinnati Bengals.

Shortly before halftime, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow threw a pass to Tyler Boyd in the end zone on a third down. Burrow was near but not over the out of bounds line when he threw the pass. While the ball was still in the air, a whistle being blown could clearly be heard on the broadcast…and the field. Boyd caught the ball and the officials signaled a touchdown.

However, Raiders players stopped play upon hearing the whistle.

According to the FOX Sports officiating expert who quoted the rule book that said the play should have been called a no call and the down replayed. The officiating crew did not review the call or replay the down but kept the call of touchdown which extended the Bengals lead to 20 to six.

After the play, the officials got together to talk over the play and decided that the whistle was blown after Boyd caught the ball. Under current rules, a play involving the timing of a blown whistle is not among the plays allowed for a video review.

According to NFL senior vice president of officiating Walt Anderson the crew reported that they, “did not feel that the whistle was blown before the receiver caught the ball.”

The Bengals went on to win the game 26-19 and will advance to the next round of the playoffs. The win was the Bengals first playoff game in 31 years.

While there has been no official word from the NFL or Commissioner Roger Goodell, referee Jerome Boger reported that the crew will not be a part of any future playoff games this season.

Normally the same officiating crew works together for an entire season; but for the playoffs, the NFL has split up the crews assign different officials as a bit of a reward for doing a good job during the season. Officials and crews are graded on their officiating accuracy. Future crews for the playoffs will be determined by the grades received for the Wild Card games.