Monday Night’s game between the Seahawks and Packers was one of the best defensive efforts, on both sides, I’ve ever seen. The Packers offensive line struggled throughout the game to protect Aaron Rodger throughout the game as the Seahawks got 8 sacks in the first half (9 total). And the Packers Defense stepped up as well and contained Marshawn Lynch, only allowing him to rush for 98 yards.
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| Touchdown or Touchback? Two Different Calls and no communication |
There was also some impressive offensive performance down the stretch in that ball game as well. For example let us take a look at Cedric Benson’s performance; after only getting two carries in the first half Benson got quite a few carries during the second half (15 to be exact). His tough gutty performance ended up playing a huge role in Green Bay’s lone touchdown drive during the game and he chewed up a fair amount of clock. For the Seahawks, fans got to see the rookie Russell Wilson lead this team down the field, with 48 seconds on the clock; they got to watch him lead his team to a come from behind to victory.
But none of these performances and outstanding efforts is important to anyone anymore. That’s because of a controversial ending that left people scratching their heads and one fan base pissed, the other going thinking “That’s karma for you!!” It was an ending for epic proportions that was befitting of the defensive game that was played, well that is until you take into account the effect the officials had on the outcome of the game.
Whether or not you agree with the call, the call was a simultaneous catch and therefore a touchdown for the Seahawks, the officials royally screwed up about how they came to the decision. There was one official sticking his arms in the air saying touchdown and another signaling a touch back. All of this was before those two officials, who were at the pile-up, even started digging through the mass of players to see who had the football. They should have waved for a clock-stoppage (even though the clock red 0:00) and started digging into the pile before they even signaled anything, let alone a TD.
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| This was flagged for defensive pass interference. Get it yet? |
Now I before I dive into my tirade about the replacement officials let me remind you that the regular officials would have had a say on the outcome of this game as well. No matter who was wearing the zebra shirts on Monday the officials would have decided the winner and the loser of the ball game. But the way it went down with the replacement officials is indicative of all of the problems that have been noticed by the fans, the players, and the coaches.
Everyone misses calls and all but very rarely do you see officials who are making those calls look so lost. During the Seahawks first game the officials had almost no control of the game as players kept getting in each other’s faces, pushing each other around and generally causing all sorts of mayhem after the whistle. Then on Monday you saw the exact opposite of that as a total of 24 flags were thrown during the Packers at Seahawks game.
But that wasn’t the only controversial call or action by an official this weekend. The Patriots fell victim to a field goal that appeared to go wide right and wasn’t reviewed. There was an official who caused a WR to fall down by throwing his hat into the receiver’s feet in the end zone. Clearly these replacement officials are trying their hardest but they are clearly way over their heads and they are costing the league and the regular officials.
The biggest problem for the League now is going to be how these officials are impacting the integrity of the regular officials. These officials are not only wrecking the apparent legitimacy of the current games being played right now. But these officials and their iffy calls are going to end up cost the regular officials down the road because their position is now a laughing stock among the fans. How is the average sports fan going to believe anything that is going to get called on the field now?
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| What do you guys think? |
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Categories: NFL
I think it was bad on both sides and it just so happend the last bad call went in favor of the Seattle Seahawks. I just wonder if there would have been as big of a fuss if the Seahawks were on the loseing end and not "Americas Team" the packers.
I think the whole, if it was the Hawks who got screwed no on would care, argument is over blown. After all the Vinny Testaverde phantom TD against the Hawks is what led to the creation of Challenges and Reviews. The entire game was poorly officiated though, they just plain old stopped calling holds on the Green Bay O-line. And these guys need a review of the pass interference rule.