LOOK: Bills-Patriots official admits during game he doesn't know why TD got reversed

This isn't going to make Bills fans feel any better

By John Breech

Dec 27, 2017 at 2:38 pm ET • 1 min read

The decision to overturn Bills wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin's touchdown against the Patriots on Sunday was so baffling that it even confused at least one official who was working the game.

The controversial touchdown -- that wasn't actually a touchdown -- happened late in the first half of the Bills game in New England, when Tyrod Taylor appeared to hit Benjamin for a 4-yard score.

Kelvin Benjamin doesn't get credit for the TD catch. Had his foot and toe scrape but not given possession during that brief time. pic.twitter.com/7QyCvPOE1a
— Ian Wharton (@NFLFilmStudy) December 24, 2017

The ruling on the field was touchdown and it looked like the Bills were going to go into halftime with a 17-13 lead. However, the call on the field didn't stand after it was reviewed in the NFL replay center by the league's vice president of officiating, Al Riveron. In a decision that has been ripped by Bills owner Terry Pegula, former NFL officiating bosses Dean Blandino and Mike Pereira and NFL fans everywhere, Riveron overturned the touchdown despite lacking indisputable evidence.

Even Rob Gronkowski though it was a touchdown and he plays for the team that benefitted from the reversal.

"It was a good play by [Benjamin] the way he extended," Gronkowski said. "I saw it. What was the ruling and why wasn't it a catch? I didn't get that."

The touchdown seemed so obvious on the field that an official working the game almost sounded confused when he found out the score had been overturned. That official, deep judge Mark Hittner, was talking with Taylor and Bills coach Sean McDermott when the replay reversal was announced in the stadium.

After the call gets overturned, McDermott asks Hittner a simple question.

"How is that incomplete?"

At that point, a game official will usually try to calm a coach down by somehow justifying the ruling that was made. However, that didn't happen here. Instead, a bewildered Hittner sounded just as baffled as McDermott.

"I don't know," Hittner said.

Sean McDermott had an interesting conversation with Mark Hittner. NFL Films/Inside the NFL

The footage was caught by NFL Films and aired for the first time Tuesday night during Showtime's "Inside the NFL." You can see the entire clip below, which also includes a brief conversation that Hittner had with Taylor while the two were waiting for the replay review to conclude. You can check out "Inside the NFL" every Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET on Showtime.