Agree or disagree with how last night's Monday Night Football game in Seattle ended, the bottom line is that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has now seen his worst nightmare come true and that is a team has arguably lost a game because of a call from a replacement ref. Its a judgment call and in the eyes of the referee, Golden Tate made a simultaneous catch with Green Bay safety M.D Jennings and if its a simultaneous catch, than a touchdown is awarded. The call went upstairs and the review official (who isn't a replacement official) had an opportunity to overturn the call, but he did not because he could not find sufficient evidence thus it was a touchdown. Had it been called incomplete or an interception, I am positive that call could not and would not have been overturned. Tate should also have been called for a terrible push-off, but how many of those do you see in hail mary situations. It simply never gets called!
The game was a good one, but it was marred by several calls and non-calls including Seattle's final drive when tight end Evan Moore was blatantly interfered with by Charles Woodson only to see no flag be tossed when guys were being flagged on both sides all night long for a lot less than the mugging that Woodson delivered. The consistency just isn't there.
A lot of bitching occurred in 1998 when Vinny Testaverde scored a touchdown for the Jets against the Seahawks when he clearly wasn't in----a play that resulted in instant replay being brought to the NFL and a lot of bitching occurred in Super Bowl 40 when the Steelers were handed the Super Bowl by referee Bill Leavy and crew after several terrible calls went against Seattle in a game that the American public years later say is the worst officiated performance they have ever seen.
Everyone wants the regular refs back and now every call that is missed by the officials is scrutinized to the point that Roger Goodell is being sent one message after another in every game that is played by announcers, analysts, fans, etc. etc. etc.
You win some and you lose some. You celebrate if your team wins and you bitch if your team loses. That will never change in pro sports. The winner Monday night was the Seahawks and as a Seahawks fan, I am taking it, but the loser was the NFL whose integrity once again takes a major hit.
By the way, can anyone tell me definitively that had the regular refs been in that the same result wouldn't have happened. Can you?
One other thing. Wouldn't it be nice if an NFL head coach had the personality of John Tortorella. With what we have seen over the past few weeks, we would have a rant for the ages!
14 comments:
Mitch, you are the most wishy-washy media personality in the world.
Your argument that the replay official (an ex-NFL referee) had an opportunity to overturn the call is inaccurate. The call on the field was a simultaneous catch - and it's not reviewable. That's why it couldn't be overturned.
Let me ask you this - had the situation been reversed and it was Green Bay that tossed the hail mary and were awarded the gift by the refs, how would you have felt? The whining and wheezing would have been endless on this blog.
Sean D
Absolute horse crap call and you know it. Take off the rose coulored glasses and realize the wrong call was made. There was no way that they both caught the ball at the same time let alone missing the horrible push off. The Green bay Db came down with the ball and Tate took it away from him after they came to the ground. Man up and realize the wrong call was made and Seattle should not have won that game period.!
Was this the first bad call in the history of pro sports? NO! Its a judgement call and in the eyes of the official, a simultaneous catch was made. The reaction over this is amazing. Would it be this way had the regular refs, refs who have made bad calls in the past---made this call?
The replacement refs are in a no-win position and this is the latest. The game is over so lets move on to the next controversy.
Terry C
Anytime the Packers lose is fine with me!!!
Vikings fan
What would Andre Proulx have called?
Why wasn't the call overturned when it went upstairs? He had the same view that we all saw. He obviously must have thought there was a simultaneous catch as well. I'm a Seahawks fan too Mitch and I'm not apologizing for this win. The potent GB offence was shut down by a very good defence that sacked Rodgers nine times. Take the win and move on!
Green Bay didn't deserve to win anyway. If you can't score a TD in 60 minutes you don't deserve to win.
If this happens at a Riders game and its the Riders that get the call, there would be 33-thousand maniacs inside the stadium and thousands outside of it saying "GREAT CALL".
We all know it was a bad call, but the Seahawks won the game and that's not going to get taken away. As Terry says, its not the first bad call in the history of sports and it won't be the last.
Brian
Scruffy, you must have had nightmares last night of that Seattle TD that real refs called no touchdown in Superbowl victory by Pittsburgh years ago,
I would LOVE to see something like this happen against Dallas just to see the look from Jerry Jones!!
The original Hail Mary saw Drew Pearson push off a Vikings defensive back. If I remember right, a Giants receiver pushed off in the Hail Mary that beat the Packers in the playoffs last year. Refs will never make that call in that situation regular or replacement.
It was a terrible call and the NFL should be ashamed that it has happened, but it will happen again and likely it will happen next weeek if these guys are still working.
JN
Hey numbnutz, the Packers did get a TD. One TD, two FG's. They tried a 2 pter that failed! Did you watch the game?
Stir that pot Scruffy! Stir that pot!!!
Replacement Officials??!! The Packer's fans should be bitchin' about their Offensive Line allowing 16 sacks in 3 games.. they should see if any of the out of work Zebras can block!!!
..The blown call deflects that doesn't it? and it won't matter if Rodgers gets concussed after another rough night by the O line and the season gets flushed.
...The No Fun League really has had plenty of laughs lately!!
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