TORONTO -- A review of four hot issues from the Buffalo Bills' 34-31 overtime loss to the Atlanta Falcons:
Robey frustrated with call: The Falcons' final scoring drive of regulation saw a barrage of penalty flags, the final one being a pass interference call against cornerback Nickell Robey. The undrafted rookie got tangled up with receiver Harry Douglas in the corner of the end zone, with both players falling to the ground as the pass sailed in. In the locker room after the game, Robey aired his frustrations about the call. "I was just playing football, trying to make a play. I felt like he pushed me more than I held him. I felt like when the ball was coming, it was underthrown and when I was trying to come back to the ball, he extended his arm and I fell. I was just trying to make a ball, playing football, you know? Coaches just kept telling me to play. I felt like that was just a bad call," he said. Coach Doug Marrone said he didn't have a good view of the play but will review it and may include it in his weekly report to the NFL office.
Bills secondary expected loose officiating: Cornerback Leodis McKelvin said that the Bills had done their homework on official Walt Anderson and his crew and were expecting fewer penalty flags than the norm. "They let you play. They let you hold. They let you do whatever you gotta do," he said. Robey echoed the same thought. "They let us play all day today," he said. Asked about the officiating, Marrone did not provide an opinion, saying, "You guys are trying to get [me] in trouble. I can't do it. My wife will kill me."
Spiller hobbled, returns: The Bills never officially announced an injury, but running back C.J. Spiller was limping early in the game. It's unclear if it was related to his nagging ankle injury, but Marrone said he spoke to running backs coach Tyrone Wheatley, who said Spiller was fine to re-enter the game. Spiller played more sparingly in the second half but broke a 36-yard touchdown run and finished with 149 rushing yards. "He goes in there and makes a big run, gets nicked up, starts limping a little bit, gets back in there," Marrone said. "I think it's kind of been that type of season for C.J."
Marrone ignores crowd noise, loud or not: The crowd of 38,969 in the Rogers Centre on Sunday was a mix of Falcons and Bills fans, so loud cheers could be heard whenever either team made big plays. That's not entirely the "home-field" advantage the Bills are looking for, but asked after the game about the effect the crowd has on players, Marrone gave an interesting response. "It's funny, when you play and you're out there, even when you're coaching you really don't know what's going on," he said. "I think people think players feed off the crowd and things like that. That may have happened, but basically you have to feed off each other." Asked a follow-up question, though, Marrone changed his tone. "I thought the crowd today was good. They were on our side. They were giving us the boost that we needed," he said.