The Philadelphia Eagles suffered a brutal loss at the hands of the division rival Dallas Cowboys, possibly due in part to a controversial call on the opening kickoff.

The call proved to be crucial down the line, as the Cowboys scored first, and the Eagles lost in overtime to an Amari Cooper touchdown, 29-23. It prompted frustration from Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins, who ripped NFL replay officials, insisting that they “stay off the bottle.”

Jenkins Slams Refs For Bad first Call 

 The call came after Jenkins hit the Cowboys return man, Jourdan Lewis, and forced a fumble that Eagles linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill appeared to recover. Lewis was initially ruled down prior to the fumble, thus prompting the Eagles to challenge the play. The replay officials determined that Lewis was not down, meaning a fumble did occur, though ruling that Dallas recovered. Claiming that there was not enough evidence to overturn the ruling, Dallas maintained possession due to “unclear” evidence to support recovery.

Several fans were livid after it appeared that the Eagles did in fact recover, and Jenkins was just as assured. “That was a pretty terrible call,” Jenkins said. “They reviewed it and the explanation I got was that it wasn’t a clear recovery, although Kamu had the ball in his hand and there was only Eagles defenders on the ball in replay. So whoever’s watching that in New York should stay off the bottle.”

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Grugier-HIll felt that there were only Eagles in the pile, despite the claims of insufficient evidence. “They just said that the video didn’t show me getting up actually with the ball, but it was clear I had the ball, so I don’t understand,” he said. “It was all green jerseys. It was all green jerseys.”

A game-changer early on, the play would have resulted in an advantageous start to the game with the Eagles near Dallas’ redzone, but instead saw Dallas score the first points in the game where every point mattered. “Common sense, you saw Kamu come out with the ball. Obviously they don’t pay me to make calls like that,” Jenkins said, “but that was, in hindsight, obviously a big play in the game.”

The play was big, and the consequences even bigger. The loss kicked the Eagles almost all the way out of playoff contention, as they now sit at 6-7, two games behind the Cowboys at 8-5. The Eagles have a 5.8 percent chance to make the playoffs after Sunday’s overtime loss.

Philadelphia Eagles players and NFL referees met this week to discuss a new rule the league has implemented regarding the use of helmets for tackles, and reportedly left “frustrated” over the “confusion” about the regulation.

Eagles Players Confused Over NFL Helmet Rule

The rule dictates that players will receive 15-yard penalties and could also possibly be ejected or fined for bowing their heads and using helmets to tackle opponents.

“We were trying to ask questions to get a better understanding, and yet they couldn’t really give us an answer,” said linebacker Nigel Bradham. “They couldn’t give us what we were looking for.”

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Eagles players reportedly had a difficult time understanding how some of the tackles they had up until now considered allowed were now illegal. Officials were even reportedly divided in their opinions about the legality of some of the tackles.

The rule also applies to offensive players like running backs and wide receivers. Malcolm Jenkins’ hit on New England Patriots wide receiver Brandin Cooks during Super Bowl LII — which knocked Cooks out of the game — was one of several highly debated tackles that was replayed on video for the players to illustrate the new rule.

“It’s going to take a different approach to learn as individuals how to keep our head up and see what we’re doing,” said running back Matt Jones. “But it’s going to be kind of hard because we’re taught to run through guys and put our helmet where their number is at. It’s like if it’s a third-and-1 and you have to have it, and you meet in the hole, there’s no way possible you’re not going to meet head-on-head and helmet-on-helmet.”

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Coach Doug Pederson announced that his staff will highlight the main aspects of the new rule — which he claims to understand clearly — this summer.

Several other new rules were established at the NFL team owners’ Annual League Meeting in March.