Getty Pete Carroll talks to a referee in 2017.
The Detroit Lions didn’t make it into the playoffs by virtue of the Seattle Seahawks beating the Los Angeles Rams, and plenty of close calls played a role in the game’s outcome.
Seattle needed overtime to beat the Rams 19-16, and it was a minor miracle they were able to take things that far given the way the game was going. If not for a few critical penalties, the Seahawks may have lost the game which later on would have allowed Detroit to get in the playoffs.
That didn’t happen, though, and now the league is taking heat for how the game ended. Things turned with 8:47 in the fourth quarter on fourth-and-three when Seahawks punter Michael Dickson fell down after a punt. The play was ruled running into the kicker, and Seattle quickly marched down and tied the score 16-16.
Later on, a questionable personal foul by Jalen Ramsey helped set Seattle up in potential game-winning field position. The kick was missed, but overtime had its own set of problems.
Referees appeared to miss a potential intentional grounding call on quarterback Geno Smith in overtime and another taunting call in overtime of safety Quandre Diggs after his major interception in the period.
As ESPN’s Adam Schefter wrote in a piece, the league is under fire for the way the game ended given it had so much on the line for the playoffs. As a result, plenty around the league think it’s time for an officiating review across the board. One of Schefter’s sources even referred to the game as the “worst officiated game of the year.”
Specifically, the source indicated to Schefter that there should be a way for mistakes to be mitigated. They also said it was a bad way for the Lions to end their season.
“Officiating is an imperfect science, but the source said to ESPN that there should be ways to mitigate those types of mistakes. The calls helped Seattle win the game and ultimately knocked Detroit out of the playoffs. “The Lions should be livid,” one source told ESPN. “It was an awful way for them to end their season,” Schefter wrote.
As Schefter would go on to say, sources explained to him that the Lions were indeed “bothered by” how the calls played out in the game.
“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,” he wrote.
Whether anything comes of this frustration or not this offseason remains to be seen, but perhaps this game can be the moment that proves the league needs to have some better tools at their disposal for referees in critical moments to ensure calls are correctly executed.
Referee problems have persisted forever, but on the big stage of the NFC playoff race, this exchange could have proven once and for all that some kind of changes are needed.
Former Ref President: Rams Didn’t Harm Kicker
Quite possibly the biggest call in the game was the penalty for running into the kicker that prolonged the drive that ultimately tied the game and would later send the contest to overtime.
Rules analyst Dean Blandino of Fox Sports who is also the league’s former head of officiating took to the internet to try and make sense of the call. Twitter user Honolulu Blues posted the clip of his commentary.
As Blandino said, he did not view the play as running into the kicker or roughing the kicker given the acting job the punter put on.
Even Dean Blandino agrees the Lions got hosed in the Rams game
“This is not a foul for running into the kicker. Running into the kicker is when you make contact with the kicking leg or you don’t let the kicker come down cleanly. You go underneath the kicker and he doesn’t have a place to land,” Blandino says in the clip. “Once the kicker gets both feet down and has that landing space, now it’s either roughing the kicker for severe contact or nothing. This was not roughing the kicker. Jonah Williams was actually blocked. He kind of fell, but the kicker did a great job. They do a really great job. They should be playing soccer during the World Cup as well in terms of selling that contact. Again, big, big call in the game.”
Without that play, it’s possible the Rams could have salted away a victory, or at the very least, added points to the mix at a critical juncture of the game. It changed the momentum of the game in a major way and was arguably the biggest call against Los Angeles and ultimately Detroit.
Lions Harmed by Referees in Playoffs Before
Though they weren’t playing in this game nor the playoffs, this wouldn’t be the first time Detroit had a referee controversy help play a role in a critical contest on the field.
Back in 2014, the Lions were doomed in a Wild Card playoff game in Dallas by a poor string of calls. It was Detroit’s last brush with the playoffs, and proved at that time how the league needed a potential ability to review what happens in real-time with their officials.
With the Lions driving late in the game and clinging to a 20-17 lead, the team elected to keep the pressure on Dallas by throwing the ball on third down. Detroit was moving the ball well, and seemed to draw a pass interference penalty on tight end Brandon Pettigrew when Anthony Hitchens knocked him to the ground. The flag was initially thrown, but Pete Morelli’s crew ended up picking up the flag much to the disappointment and confusion of the Lions. Here’s a look at the play again:
This time, the Lions weren’t in the playoffs, but they were still hurt by some poor judgement calls by the officials on the field in Seattle. The sting isn’t likely to subside, at least until the league finds better ways to deal with their referees.
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‘Lions Should Be Livid:’ NFL Scrutinized Over Rams-Seahawks Officiating