Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive tackle Calijah Kancey was flagged for illegal hands to the face in the Bucs’ 24-16 win over the Dallas Cowboys on October 8. The NFL has now acknowledged that Kancey did not commit the foul and that the only relevant hand contact on the play came from Cowboys guard Tyler Booker.

The result has long since been entered into the books. It’s been more than two weeks since the game, but fans were far from willing to let this one slide.

NFL Acknowledges Referees Penalized the Wrong Team in Cowboys-Bucs

In the video, NFL officiating and rules analyst Walt Anderson walked through the Week 5 play by jersey number. Kancey wears No. 94 for Tampa Bay, and Booker wears No. 52 for Dallas.

Anderson said, “We’re going to have a foul called on No. 94 on the defensive team for illegal hands to the face … The only action relative to any hands is really by the offensive player here … Because it’s clearly not a foul by No. 94. If there is illegal use of hands, it’s obviously by No. 52 of the offense.”

Pro Football Talk’s Michael David Smith called the wrong-team flag “a rather embarrassing officiating mistake.”

Smith reported that the call was miscommunicated as Kancey’s foul, which is how the yardage was stepped off against the Bucs. He also wrote that Kancey “made clear in the moment that he knew it was a bad call.”

Fox Sports reporter Greg Auman wrote on Friday night, “As many of you pointed out in real time, an admission from officials that the wrong team was flagged Sunday.”

One fan suggested a blanket solution: “Everything should be reviewable. Enough is enough.”

So why didn’t anyone fix it on the spot? Anderson’s explanation points to a safeguard meant for this kind of mix-up.

“This is the type of play that the Competition Committee has instructed officiating that if objective information in terms of just asking the officials, ‘Are we sure we have the right number of the player here?’ that we can end up assisting with this.”

Smith also wrote in his column that “The New York officiating office could have fixed it, but didn’t.”

Another fan came to the same conclusion: “I mean there’s video evidence. And another great reason to make anything reviewable if it’s an egregious error by the on-field crew.”

To put into context how costly this error and the subsequent backlash could have been. The Bucs came into that Thursday night without a win and haven’t won since, so the victory over Dallas is the only one on their 1-5 record. That left one fan wondering, “Would they admit this if Bucs lost?”

The penalty went Dallas’ way, but the Cowboys still lost. Not everyone had sympathy for Tampa Bay, either: “Cry me a river, they release apology letters to us all the time and the same thing happened to us 2023 vs DET,” one Cowboys fan replied.

Flags have been a running theme for Tampa Bay. The NFL’s leaders in yards wiped out by penalties per game this season entering Week 7 are the Washington Commanders, who rank #1 at 30.5, with the Bucs second at 26.2, and the Carolina Panthers third at 24.6.

Against Dallas, the Bucs were penalized 14 times for 92 yards, twice as many penalties as the Cowboys’ seven.

In Week 7, Tampa Bay, fourth in the NFC South, visits the Panthers on Sunday. The 2-4 Cowboys, whose defense currently ranks last in PFN’s Defense Impact Score with a 60.9 grade through six weeks, are third in the NFC East and play at the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night.