The Seahawks have been involved in some wild finishes over the years, some fantastic, some absurd, but none as bizarre as the end of their replacement-referee mandated 14-12 victory over the Green Bay Packers Monday night at CenturyLink Field. Seemingly on the verge of defeat, Russell Wilson scrambled from the pocket and threw 50 yards in the air to the left corner of the end zone as the clock expired.
Seahawks receiver Golden Tate blatantly shoved Green Bay’s Sam Shields out of the way and then wrestled with M.D. Jennings for possession of Wilson’s pass. Although Jennings appeared to have intercepted the ball, the referees on the field ruled that Tate and Jennings had simultaneous possession, which goes to the offensive player, and called it a Seattle touchdown.
After a lengthy review, referee Wayne Elliott declared, “The ruling on the field stands,” giving the Seahawks their second straight victory to the utter delight of the Clink crowd.
“Don’t ask me any question about the officials,” Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy said after the game. “I’ve never seen anything like that in all my years in football.”
Tate defended the ruling, saying, “We both had possession of it. I don’t know the rule, but I guess a tie goes to the receiver.”
Asked if he got his hands on the ball first, Tate admitted he wasn’t sure. “I think so,” he said. “Maybe he did, but I took it from him.”
Jennings said that he had the ball pinned to his chest the entire time and that Tate never controlled possession.
“I think if you asked Golden Tate to take a lie detector test and ask him did he catch that ball or did M.D. catch that ball, M.D. caught that,” Packers’ wide receiver Greg Jennings said. “It was clear as day, at least that is what my eyes saw.”
Most national media pundits agreed with Jennings that the Packers got hosed on the play, and many NFL players used their Twitter accounts to call a foul on the league.
“I love this league and love the game of football, but tonights debacle hurts me greatly. This is NOT the league were supposed to represent,” tweeted Saints quarterback Drew Brees.
“Refs single handedly blew this one . . . ” chimed running back Reggie Bush.
“I’ve been saying give the refs a break but that TD was ridiculous. How do you miss that? Pop Warner refs would have gotten that right,” said TE Tony Gonzalez.
Even basketball star LeBron James weighed in, saying on Twitter, “These replacement refs gotta go man!! Packers just got game took from them. I LOVE NFL football too much to see this type of work.”
We are going to ask Seahawks fans to scrub off their green and blue face paint for a few minutes and weigh in objectively on the play.
[polldaddy poll=6560285]
22 Comments
My primary thought is that the poll is seriously flawed with only the two choices. Given what they have, I’ll go with ‘correct call’–just as the NFL did.
With “not totally clear and replay would have upheld whatever the on-field call was” I’d choose that.
But GB didn’t get hosed on that play. Maybe on the roughing the passer call which took away their pick, but those hits get called like that all the time. Certainly GB got major benefit in the 2nd half, not only on calls that were made, but on at least 5 instances of holding that weren’t called. Final probably should have been 10-9, Seattle–and that’s generous to GB.
Pixel, you’ll go crazy playing the if/then with this one. But feel free.
My primary thought is that the poll is seriously flawed with only the two choices. Given what they have, I’ll go with ‘correct call’–just as the NFL did.
With “not totally clear and replay would have upheld whatever the on-field call was” I’d choose that.
But GB didn’t get hosed on that play. Maybe on the roughing the passer call which took away their pick, but those hits get called like that all the time. Certainly GB got major benefit in the 2nd half, not only on calls that were made, but on at least 5 instances of holding that weren’t called. Final probably should have been 10-9, Seattle–and that’s generous to GB.
Pixel, you’ll go crazy playing the if/then with this one. But feel free.
actually Tate only had one hand on the ball when they hit the ground. it is good to be a homer but dont be an ignorant homer. btw- the realtiy is the hawks offense is inept. and this win might get them over 500 at the end of the year. but I’m not going to get emotionally invested in a team that will finish 3rd in the conference. Player coaches never win title in the NFL.Fire PC.
Like the Mariners offense, no homers here. Fire PC? Where have you been? He lost the opener. He should have been fired then, right?
I think it is too soon to say the Hawks O is inept. Arizona has now shut down the Pats and Eagles too, their D looks legit and GB shutbdown the Bears last week too,
I’d say the biggest issues are the porous O-line and WRs who can’t get open
actually Tate only had one hand on the ball when they hit the ground. it is good to be a homer but dont be an ignorant homer. btw- the realtiy is the hawks offense is inept. and this win might get them over 500 at the end of the year. but I’m not going to get emotionally invested in a team that will finish 3rd in the conference. Player coaches never win title in the NFL.Fire PC.
Like the Mariners offense, no homers here. Fire PC? Where have you been? He lost the opener. He should have been fired then, right?
I think it is too soon to say the Hawks O is inept. Arizona has now shut down the Pats and Eagles too, their D looks legit and GB shutbdown the Bears last week too,
I’d say the biggest issues are the porous O-line and WRs who can’t get open
Both teams got hosed during the game with terrible calls. Green Bay shouldn’t even have been in a position to score their TD, and/or at the very least should have come away with only a field goal, so the last play wouldn’t have been necessary if the continuum of calls would have been made correctly.
As I wrote in the column, this came can’t be sorted for the if/then test, because too many miscalls and non-calls led to perpetual unraveling. No continuum.
Yes no doubt about it Art.
Both teams got hosed during the game with terrible calls. Green Bay shouldn’t even have been in a position to score their TD, and/or at the very least should have come away with only a field goal, so the last play wouldn’t have been necessary if the continuum of calls would have been made correctly.
As I wrote in the column, this came can’t be sorted for the if/then test, because too many miscalls and non-calls led to perpetual unraveling. No continuum.
Yes no doubt about it Art.
Ok, disclaimer, I’m a Seahawk fan so I must be prejudiced.
I agree the replacement refs called a bad game overall causing both teams to suffer unjust penalties BUT the last call seems to be right to me. After watching it numerous times I’m convinced they refs got that one right (leaving aside the pushing non-call on Tate).
Yet, even the Seattle Times put up a banner headline SEAHAWKS STEAL ONE. WTF??? And, look at the tweets from even NFL players ranting about that final call, all supporting Green Bay. Am I missing something? Ironically, after calling a terrible game, the replacement refs get beat up for one of the calls they made right.
It seems to me that there may be a pro-Packers or, conversely, a anti-SeaHawk bias coming through here.
Ok, disclaimer, I’m a Seahawk fan so I must be prejudiced.
I agree the replacement refs called a bad game overall causing both teams to suffer unjust penalties BUT the last call seems to be right to me. After watching it numerous times I’m convinced they refs got that one right (leaving aside the pushing non-call on Tate).
Yet, even the Seattle Times put up a banner headline SEAHAWKS STEAL ONE. WTF??? And, look at the tweets from even NFL players ranting about that final call, all supporting Green Bay. Am I missing something? Ironically, after calling a terrible game, the replacement refs get beat up for one of the calls they made right.
It seems to me that there may be a pro-Packers or, conversely, a anti-SeaHawk bias coming through here.
As a Seahawks fan, I’ll admit Green Bay got robbed on that last play with the no call on the shove by Golden Tate and the interception. I feel bad for them and have mixed feelings about the “win”. Having said that, I find it ironic that the Seahawks are being called cheats by a lot of folks when it’s the refs and the league that owns this. What are we supposed to do, give the game back? What the the hell would Green Bay or any other team have done had they been gifted a victory like the Hawks? “Of course they’d take the win. The worst injustice of all is that this call overshadows the fact that even if the Hawks lost, their defense manhandled the Packers and held the games most explosive offense to a mere12 points.
Here’s another difference—most Seahawk fans acknowledge the bad call at the end and admit it should have gone GB’s way. I sure as hell didn’t hear any Steeler fans sympathy for the shitty reffing after our last Super Bowl.
As a Seahawks fan, I’ll admit Green Bay got robbed on that last play with the no call on the shove by Golden Tate and the interception. I feel bad for them and have mixed feelings about the “win”. Having said that, I find it ironic that the Seahawks are being called cheats by a lot of folks when it’s the refs and the league that owns this. What are we supposed to do, give the game back? What the the hell would Green Bay or any other team have done had they been gifted a victory like the Hawks? “Of course they’d take the win. The worst injustice of all is that this call overshadows the fact that even if the Hawks lost, their defense manhandled the Packers and held the games most explosive offense to a mere12 points.
Here’s another difference—most Seahawk fans acknowledge the bad call at the end and admit it should have gone GB’s way. I sure as hell didn’t hear any Steeler fans sympathy for the shitty reffing after our last Super Bowl.
I think people are reacting more to the simultaneous possession rule (which most didn’t know of prior) than the final ruling on the field. Green Bay defenders could have easily avoided this by BATTING THE BALL DOWN IN THE END ZONE, why is no one talking about that?
I think people are reacting more to the simultaneous possession rule (which most didn’t know of prior) than the final ruling on the field. Green Bay defenders could have easily avoided this by BATTING THE BALL DOWN IN THE END ZONE, why is no one talking about that?