September 25, 2012
The most Bizarre, Shocking, and Controversial Finish you will ever see took the stage on Monday Night Football as the Seattle Seahawks defeated the Green Bay Packers in a Stunning, and perhaps an unprecedented and questionable touchdown call to award the Seahawks a victory. With 8 seconds left on the clock and the Seattle Seahawks down to their 4th-down, rookie Seahawk QB Russell Wilson fired a Hail Mary into the Endzone which was clearly caught and intercepted by Packers M.D. Jennings with Seahawks Golden Tate seemingly having an arm and simultaneous possession of the ball, the final ruling and result on the field was a game-winning Touchdown by the Seahawks in the most confusing and controversial finish in NFL history. It included a sequence of events which included so many major plays that were called and not called, but towards the end, two replacement officials looked indecisively at each other and signaled two very quite opposite calls, one official was signaling what appeared to be a "dead-ball" or touch-back and the other official waving the touchdown call, and at the end was decided as a touchdown. This happened moments after Golden Tate shoved Packers Sam Shields to the ground for an offensive pass interference that was not called and this obviously led to the "biggest" and most controversial endings that has the entire NFL, players, coaches, fans, the whole world of sports in an uproar.
Week 3 of the NFL has seen so many bizarre corners of the institution of replacement referees and the NFL analysts said "it is only going to get worse". Unfortunately it took a highly-rated and anticipated game like the Seahawks and Packers on Monday Night to finally witness the Volcanic Explosion that was expected to happen on a season already full of infuriating, agonizing, and upsetting emotions toward the novice crew of officiating. We have seen coaches in upsetting games erupt, player tweets, fans and NFL specialists sound off on this downward spiral and ruining of the "greatest game". However, Bill Belichick's antics on the field as he grabbed an official after Sunday's loss and Jon Harbaugh's rant was merely the beginning of it, but what happened last night to Mike McCarthy and his Green Bay team was beyond jaw-dropping and no doubt there will be movement and unrest in the NFL world to come after yesterday's blown game. "Don't ask me a question about the officials", was Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy's ecstatic reaction after the game. What made it worse was the fact that Green Bay had to send 11 men back onto the field to finish the game and kick that extra point after perhaps the most disgusting call in the NFL just robbed the Packers of a win. Give credit to the Packs for their professional display after an event like that one. The truth of the matter is fans, players, coaches, and any follower of National Football grow more furious by the day as the continued implementation of replacement officials by the League remains in order, and any close solution of returning the regular league officials back onto the field is unlikely.
There should not be any reason to believe that a game like this would not shake trees and blow the top off the can. Players and coaches have been complaining and showing their frustrations on the field, reports had it that the Packers trashed their locker rooms, throwing chairs at the television screens not believing anything that was made official in yesterday's loss which should not have even been a loss. Nonetheless, the entire sports world and nation is tuning in, as this means the legitimacy of these new league officials are no doubt in question, and the "integrity and safety" of the game of football that has come to be so respected has now been jeopardized. Aaron Rodgers had plenty to say immediately after the game, "It was awful... just look at the replays .. and the fact that is was reviewed.. awful". We knew the installation of replacement referees was bad, we saw it in preseason football, we saw it the first three games of the season, coaches fired-up, players mouthing off, but it starts to get heavy when the consequences begin to affect the result of the game. As many sports analysts and former officials of the league have reacted, nothing gets done until something bad happens and sure enough, something happened. It could not get any worse than Monday night. It was just fortunate this was not a playoff game, although this certainly does affect a team's course in getting to the playoffs. What is more intriguing is the fact that player's safety is at risk, there already has been so many incidences in Week 3 and so far as this season has taken its course where players have been chop-blocked and there has been no call, face-masks attempts that were not enforced by the refs, unnecessary roughness calls that were not made, close-to injury plays that were not followed-up and flagged by the officials. What ends up happening perhaps in response by the coaches, players, and teams is they begin to take advantage of the rules, these holes and all these flaws in officiating the game, relying on the fact that the ref might just end up screwing up a play and have the call go in favor of their team.
Despite such drama, and throughout all the Mayhem that "left a bad taste in the mouth", as MNF Sportscaster Jon Gruden said, there was still football laying beneath the dark shadow hovering over the field. Give the Seahawks credit especially on that last play as Russell Wilson fired it in, and Golden Tate's efforts in competing on that "catch". He was asks after the game if he pushed off on Sam Shields, "I don't know what you're talking about... I don't know what you're talking about", said Tate to a reporter. It was clearly shown through many times of replay that M.D. Jennings had established possession of the ball to his chest, and Golden Tate did not have "simultaneous" possession as the rule says, it should not have been called a touchdown. This is not even in relation to the offensive pass interference that Golden Tate should have been penalized for. The NFL has now officially up-held the ruling of the touchdown call saying that the play is cannot be reviewed nor overturned. This unfortunate event comes at a hefty price and the issue of replacement refs and the questionable return of the regular officials sits amidst this mayhem that has got the entire NFL, Sports and for that matter the world rumbling!
B.C Sports
Brian C
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