Week 3 Monday Night Game

On December 6, 1998, the Seahawks traveled to the Meadowlands to take on the Jets. Seattle held a 31-26 lead with the Jets facing 4th and goal from the 5 yard line with 27 seconds left. The play captured in the photo below (it may seem familiar to those who have visited this blog before) was called a touchdown.

Yes, Vinny Testatverde's white and green helmet was mistaken for the football (neither white nor green). At the time, there was no instant replay system in football, as it had been voted out a few years prior. This play is credited as being the catalyst that essentially forced the hand of the NFL to bring back replay, which we have had ever since. 

I say this as a fan who knows what it's like to watch helplessly while your team loses a game thanks to a wrong call. I feel for the Packers and their fans this morning, as no one should have to suffer a loss in that way. It really feels like that should have been an interception.

On the other hand, when my team was on the other end of horrendous official decisions, no one offered to give the game back. Being a fan of the team that comes out on the short end of the stick of an official's call more often than not, I much prefer it this way. 

Some more thoughts on the aftermath of this game:

• The replacement officials handled this play very poorly. They have gotten considerable grief from everyone about how they slow down the game with long, unnecessary conferences for even the most straightforward of calls, but they needed to discuss this situation before any ruling. The referee should have taken the two closest officials, determined what each saw, and the officials made a single, clear ruling. Someone would have been upset, sure, but that's how the real officials would have handled it. Instead, we got what looked like two officials making opposite calls, fueling the collective ire. 

• That being said, it is NOT certain that the real officials would have made a different call. I believe it's likely, as it certainly looked like the defensive back had the ball first, but one interpretation is that you can't establish possession while in the air, and by the time the DB hit the ground, Tate had two hands on the ball as well. Plus, while it is NOT simultaneous possession if one guy had possession first, relative possession is immaterial to the call. If one guy has 65% possession and the other guy has 35%, it's still simultaneous possession. 

• The referees were bad for both teams all game long. Take away the last-second call, and each team would be equal on the "we got screwed" scale. The Packers' touchdown came on a drive extended by an abysmal pass interference call. Seattle's second-to-last drive benefited from an atrocious roughing the passer call AND an even worse pass interference call. 

• I don't want to hear cries for an offensive pass interference call against Golden Tate on that final play. You are NEVER going to get that call on a hail mary jump ball play. It won't happen, so stop pretending like it should have been called. 

• I am impressed by Golden Tate's fight for the ball. If Tate doesn't somehow latch on and stay on that whole time, the officials never have to make a decision and this whole outcry is avoided. Frankly, I was shocked that the DB never tried to twist away as he went to the ground. Tate has underachieved during his time in the league, and he screwed up the 4th down play on the prior drive by being in the same spot as Sidney Rice. As Russell Wilson said postgame, that throw was intended for Rice, even though Tate got his hand on the ultimately incomplete pass. 

• If the Packers DB on that play knocks the ball out of the end zone, rather than going for the pick to pad his stats, guess what, the Packers win and there's no controversy. You always here coaches and commentators yell "Knock it down!" on these plays. This is a great tool to show why that's so important, especially when the play is happening so close to a boundary line. 

• Either Vegas or the bettors took a bath on that game (Green Bay was favored by 3, so they lost and failed to cover thanks to that last play). I wonder if at some point Vegas would decide to stop accepting bets on NFL games as the replacement official situation spirals further and further out of control. That would make the NFL sit up and take notice because a significant chunk of their empire is related to gambling (even though no one will admit it). Sure some people who pay for DirecTV are fans who want to see their team from across the country, or want to see more of the product, but just as many, if not more, are bettors who study tendencies in an effort to improve their performance.

• Interesting how, in the middle of a battle between the locked-out officials and the owners, the first team to get jobbed by the replacements is the one team out of 32 without an owner. The Packers are a public trust, and have a managing partner to make decisions for the team, but no owner. 

In the end, I just hope that the only good that can possibly arise out of this does: that this is the catalyst to bring back the real officials and end the charade. It would be fitting for Seattle to be the team on the bad end of a controversial call that brought back replay, and on the fortunate end of a call that brought back the real officials.