The Bills on Monday denied a report that suggested they may have violated NFL rules by playing an in-stadium sound effect for too long during some of the Patriots' third-down situations Sunday.
Pro Football Talk questioned the Bills' game presentation in a report Sunday night following Buffalo's 40-32 loss to New England at Ralph Wilson Stadium. The report cited an NFL memo issued in August that cautioned teams to be aware of the league's in-stadium noise policies after the Falcons were caught pumping crowd noise into the Georgia Dome the past two seasons.
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"The home team is permitted to play audio while the visiting team is on offense and the play clock is running," the memo read. "The audio must cease by the time the play clock reaches 20 seconds, or when the visiting team's offense reaches the line of scrimmage, whichever occurs first. Pursuant to this policy, the visiting team's offense is considered being at the line of scrimmage when the center touches the ball."
Pro Football Talk said the Bills played a train whistle sound effect "on multiple occasions" while the Patriots were running their no-huddle offense.
The Bills responded Monday, telling The Buffalo News, “There are many elements of the game that are reviewed by the league and we feel we were within the rules.”
A league policy requires NFL teams to "submit a recording of the video board feed paired with the (public address) system audio by the Wednesday following a home game," according to PFT.
There were other reasons the stadium may have been considered too noisy Sunday. Guinness World Records was on hand as Bills fans unsuccessfully attempted to break the world record for noisiest stadium.
