Getty The NFL admitted there should have been pass interference called on the 49ers against the Seahawks.
Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll believes the NFL “wishes” the officials would have called pass interference against the 49ers during a crucial play in the end zone in the Seattle-San Francisco regular-season finale. Seahawks tight end Jacob Hollister was the targetted receiver on a late third-down play that resulted in an incomplete pass.
The pass interference call would have given the Seahawks the ball on the one-yard line. Carroll elaborated on his recent discussion with the league office on the no-call during his weekly press conference ahead of the team’s playoff matchup against the Eagles.
“They wish that they would’ve called a pass interference,” Carroll noted, per 710 ESPN Seattle. “They can look and see, and they would’ve called pass interference, I think. That would probably be the feeling I got because you easily could’ve called it, and nobody would’ve complained about the call other than the guy that grabbed him. That would’ve made everything a whole lot cleaner and all that. It’s difficult for those guys to put a flag down on the field. It’s got to be so egregious that there’s a standard to it. Had it been called on the field, they never would’ve overturned that from what I understand.”
As Carroll explained, the call would unlikely have been overturned if it was initially called. The NFL opted not to do a formal review of the non-pass interference call during the game.
A Delay of Game Penalty Proved Costly for the Seahawks
There were also self-inflicted wounds for the Seahawks as they narrowly lost the division title to the Niners. The Seahawks also had a delay of game penalty as the team was late getting the correct personnel in the game which pushed the team back five yards with less than a minute remaining.
Despite all the hurdles, Hollister would later be stopped just short of the goal line in what turned out to be the difference in being the No. 3 and No. 6 seed in the postseason. If the Seahawks were victorious, they would have hosted the No. 6 Vikings rather than traveling to Philadelphia. The only silver-lining of the loss is the Seahawks do play the NFC playoff team with the worst record.
The Seahawks Are Expecting Safety Quandre Diggs to Play vs. Eagles
The Seahawks received some good news ahead of their playoff matchup against the Eagles. Safety Quandre Diggs resumed practice after missing multiple weeks with an ankle injury and the team expects Diggs to play against the Eagles.
“It [his ankle] feels good,” Diggs said, per Seahawks.com. “I’m excited to get to practice with my guys again. You always miss these aspects of playing the game, practicing, you miss those things when they’re taken away from you… I’ve got to get through the week, and we’ll go from there. You never know what’ll happen at practice, so I just want to try to put my best foot forward.”
Diggs became an integral part of the Seahawks defense since Seattle acquired him from the Lions earlier this season. Tackle Duane Brown has yet to practice this week for the Seahawks, and Carroll noted that his status for Sunday is still unclear.