Ridiculous Baker Mayfield TD pass rescues the NFL from officiating disaster

The Tampa Bay Bucs entered Sunday with a very straight-forward assignment: Win, and clinch the NFC South and a home game on Wild Card weekend. Considering the fact that Tampa was welcoming the 5-11 (and injury-ravaged) New Orleans Saints to town, that seemed to be simple enough. Only an all-time collapse could keep the Bucs out of the playoffs.

But, as a wise man once said, "that's why they play the games". Spencer Rattler came out firing, leading the Saints to 16 first-half points, while a typically potent Bucs offense couldn't get out of second gear. Tampa Bay was down 10 at the half, and entered the fourth quarter trailing 19-13. And just when it looked like Baker Mayfield had finally managed to pull the team out of the fire, the refs decided to get involved.

Baker Mayfield, Jalen McMillan overcome awful penalty to score go-ahead TD

The Bucs drive had stalled out at the Saints 42, faced with a 4th and 8 with 10:49 remaining in the game. Rather than punt, coach Todd Bowles opted to get aggressive, and Mayfield paid him off: The QB delivered a dime downfield to rookie receiver Jalen McMillan inside the New Orleans 10. Tampa Bay looked to be on the doorstep of a go-ahead touchdown.

Until, suddenly, they weren't. The refs flagged McMillan for his first-down celebration, part of the league's ongoing crackdown against players miming the use of firearms on the field. While that's certainly a worthy goal, this was hardly a full George Pickens; it sure seemed like McMillan was just gesturing for a first down, the way wideouts have done since time immemorial. And especially considering the stakes, it was a brutal call to make, one that threatened to cost the Bucs the division: Instead of 1st and goal from the 9, Tampa Bay had 1st and 10 from the 24, which quickly became 1st and 18 after a holding call.

And then, just when it seemed like all was lost, McMillan found redemption. He also got some help from a picture-perfect pass from Mayfield, who found McMillan on the run in the corner of the endzone for the go-ahead score.

It's tough to overstate how loud the backlash would've gotten had Tampa Bay failed to score on that drive and gone on to lose the game and miss the playoffs. Luckily for the Bucs and the NFL, the players prevailed anyway; if Tampa Bay doesn't move on, they'll have only themselves to blame at this point.