I love hosting the prime time games in Seattle. It’s a great opportunity to showcase a great city, a loud and proud fan base, and the Seahawks always produce in prime time, owning the best home record on Monday Night Football in the NFL, 13-5.
This was a game that excited and scared me the most when the schedule came out, mainly because of the quarterback issues for the Seahawks and the high octane offense of the Packers. But I hate it when the enjoyment of a game gets sidetracked by bad officiating and controversy. yet that’s what happened last night in the Emerald City. Everyone already knows about the last play. It’s obviously the play of the game.
I won’t even begin to argue about that one except to say that I wouldn’t have been shocked for the call to have gone either way. Seattle wide receiver Golden Tate obviously caught the ball with his left hand, which ended up between the ball and Packers cornerback M.D. Jennings' body. Jennings obviously got both hands on the ball and had possession as well. Tate removed his right hand momentarily but put it back as he landed on the ground.
Did Tate ever lose possession in the process? No, I don’t think so. If you’re going to argue that he only had one hand on it, I’m going to ask if you’ve never seen a receiver make a one-handed catch before. Hell, I saw Tate make an incredible one-handed catch against the Chargers in 2010—it was one of my plays of the game.
If you then try to distract the argument with the obvious push Tate put on a Packers defender while the ball was in the air, I’m going to reply to you if you have ever, and I mean ever in the history of football, seen pass interference called on a Hail Mary pass. It’s a ridiculous attempt to try and say Tate should have gotten a flag in the first place which isn’t the argument at all. In a normal play, I’d agree, but not on the last play of the game on a Hail Mary. That will never happen and really shouldn’t as long as the push isn’t administered with a taser.
Article comments
1 - Baronius
I didn't see the game except for a clip of the last play. If you want to say that the whole game was reffed badly, feel free. I can believe it. Just don't say that the last call was reasonable.
2 - Russ Evenhuis
I'm not saying that at all. I think it was probably a bad call. I didn't see anything in the replay to overturn the call and would probably feel that way if it were ruled an interception too. What I don't like is that the rest of the game is ignored because of one call when the rest of the game had a ton of bad calls as well, going both ways.
3 - Zingzing
As a Minnesota fan and a former resident of Seattle, I say god bless the Seahawks. If it had been in green bay, it would have been an int. But it was in Seattle, where the safe call was a td. And that's how you explain that.
4 - mercedee savage
i say the sea hawks should man up and give the game to whom won it, which is the packers, even though the ref messed up bad, you know who really won, thats very bad sports manship, i wouldn't want to be a sea hawk and knowing we cheat to win, sad, MAN UP SEA-HAWKS
5 - Russ Evenhuis
Hmmm, man up you say? I completely agree with you. In fact, as soon as the Pittsburgh Steelers man up and give us the Super Bowl trophy that the refs screwed the Seahawks out of, the Seahawks will hand over the w from Monday. ;
6 - Baronius
I don't think that the Seahawks should try to get their win vacated or anything. Bad calls are part of sports. But it's the duty of any sport to try to diminish them, and that bad call should (and will) hang around the neck of the NFL for a long time. As to this article, I think the difference between a sports fan and a team fan lies in being able to flat-out admit that your team shouldn't have won.
7 - Russ Evenhuis
I agree with you Baronius except that this one call isn't the only reason one team won or lost. Saying the Packers should be declared the winners because of one call completely ignores the other 59 minutes and 59 seconds of football that occurred. The second half was full of bad calls that went against both teams. Any one of those being changed would change the outcome of the game. It's over, nothing will change that, either get over it or wallow in it but it's time to get the regular refs back and start blaming them for all the bad calls. :-)
8 - Zingzing
Even if the Seahawks could "man up," they wouldn't because that would be so damn stupid. And then there is the fact that they can't, because them's the rules. It's done. Also, suck it green bay.
9 - Zingzing
(go vikes! Skol!)