A week later, that pivotal Rams/Seahawks game is still the talk of the NFL but for all the wrong reasons.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the word around the league is last weekend’s matchup in Seattle that sent the Seahawks to the playoffs with a 19-16 overtime win is being called the “worst officiated game of the year”.
Multiple sources told ESPN that the Rams were upset by the officiating, the Lions were bothered by it and the competition committee was frustrated by it. The calls benefited the Seahawks, hurt the Rams and ultimately impacted the Lions, who needed Seattle to lose in order to have a chance to claim the NFC’s final wild-card spot.
ESPN.com
Despite Seattle’s win, the Lions who undoubtedly suffered the most misfortune from the blunders in officiating still went into Lambeau to beat the Packers in impressive fashion 20-16 preventing Aaron Rodgers and Green Bay from making the playoffs themselves. Still, one source told ESPN that the Lions “should be livid” with how things were handled in Seattle and that “it was an awful way for them to end their season.”
In that Rams/Seahawks game, four plays in total came into heavy question. Ironically too these plays came in the fourth quarter or later.
The first came midway through the fourth when Rams defensive end Jonah Williams was flagged for running into Seahawks punter Michael Dickson which ultimately enabled Seattle to continue their drive resulting in the game-tying field goal. The only problem here is that there can’t be a penalty call if a player runs into the kicker by way of being blocked or pushed into them, which is exactly what happened to Williams.
Later in the quarter, Jalen Ramsey was called for unnecessary roughness on Seahawks QB Geno Smith. After the play, Seattle receiver D.K. Metcalf could be seen poking his hand into Ramsey’s face in plain sight of one of the officials with no penalty being called.
About midway through the overtime period, Geno Smith avoided a pretty obvious intentional grounding call after coming under pressure and sailing an errant pass that landed on the 23-yard line. The only receiver in the area was Seahawks tight end Noah Fant who was at the 35-yard line.
Also in overtime, Seattle’s Quandre Diggs intercepted Baker Mayfield and in turn, pointed at Rams linebacker Bobby Wagner and too avoided a taunting call that would’ve pushed the Seahawks back 15 yards. Instead, Seattle started their final drive on their own 36 resulting in a game-winning Jason Myers 32-yard field goal.
The NFL was already getting second-guessed heading into this game and their decision to play it before the Lions/Packers Sunday night matchup. Particularly the notion that the entire setup ultimately favored Green Bay who needed the Seahawks to win to potentially face a dejected Lions team at Lambeau and punch their ticket to the playoffs with a win. That’s not how everything ultimately played out but at the end of the day, it seems pretty easy to understand the skepticism.
The bigger issue here is a billion-dollar industry like the NFL, continuing to get away with employing part-time officials. Given how much the game has changed, and how the players are bigger and faster than ever, it’s inexcusable that the league isn’t employing their officials full-time while keeping them trained in all aspects during the offseason.