FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Referee Gene Steratore answered questions from a pool reporter about several officiating-related topics following the Buffalo Bills' 20-13 loss on Monday night to the New England Patriots.

Included in the discussion was a question about the final play of the game, one in which some believed Bills receiver Sammy Watkins managed to get out of bounds following a 16-yard catch.

"What we had as far as the last play with Buffalo's reception was that the receiver gave himself up voluntarily in the field of play," Steratore said. "When that occurs and we deem that the runner, which he would have been after he maintained possession after his reception, he was now a runner, had given himself up in the field of play. The fact that he scoots out of bounds is not as important. We wound the clock.

"It was a judgment call by that head linesman that he felt like he gave himself up in the field of play. It's not a reviewable play. So winding the clock or stopping the clock is not something we review. So, in his judgment, he deemed that the runner gave himself up in the field of play voluntarily, which does put him down by contact in the field, so he wound [the clock]."

Steratore also was asked about a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against the Bills' bench following a play in which a Danny Amendola catch was blown dead by an inadvertent whistle.

"[We] don't really get any defining people," Steratore asked. "We really just, for our sake, anybody that would be in any obstructing, you know, situation that would be related to the team, in any regard. But I don't ask specifics. It's irrelevant for us really, when we enforce it."

As for what "obstructing" meant, Steratore said, "Yeah, could have stepped in front of, it can be anything that would create the official or not allow the official to officiate the play. That could be a multitude of things. Could step in front of him, he could inadvertently bump him -- when an official's covering a play, he could actually bump into someone. So, there's a lot of different, you know, scenarios for that. So what we do is just basically call that an obstruction from a bench personnel."