The outrage over Seahawks-Packers Monday Night Football has bordered on hysteria. “Is The NFL irrelevant?” says ESPN, “Seahawks/Packers should have an asterisk” says Bleacher Report. All the way up to President Obama, the condemnation has been swift and sound, it's taken on a frightening downhill roll of rage 'enough is enough' and why? Because this call, unlike any of the other botched calls in NFL history, can have resolution, a small taste of redemption, by removing the admittedly awful replacement refs and never seeing them again.As somebody who has followed the NFL since the 1993 Super Bowl at the age of 7, I’ve noticed the media are pretty in sync week-to-week. We will talk about concussions when it’s time, we will discus Tebow’s faith when it’s time, James Harrison’s fines, Bret Favre’s retirements, is Tony Romo mad at Jessica Simpson?
Hey- do Steve Young and Joe Montana like each other? Is Randy Moss poisoning the locker room? What does it mean for this coach to beat his old team? I mean- what does it really mean? Anything to get out of talking about football it seems. Now, it’s time to talk about the replacement refs. This call is different because there is that added storyline, and there is a scenario to build to. (That being the return of the actual refs).
Have we seen worse calls? Yes. But not this exact day.
Was the call botched? Yes. But only because Golden Tate had a blatantly obvious pass interference right before the catch and the game should have ended. Ho-hum, seen that kind of pass interference controversy a million times to the reward/disgust of all 32 teams.
The actual possession of the ball is in dispute, it’s not clearly a Green Bay interception like the media thinks. Watch it over and over and over, Tate has BOTH hands on the ball when they hit the ground, one over the ball and body of Jennings that the cameras can see and one under his body and on the ball that you can’t see.
Can you conclusively say Jennings had full control of the ball while in the air? On the replay you can see Tate has his right hand on it. Jennings “has the ball and is bringing it in” says Gruden, who does think it is an interception. He does not bring it in, he tries to bring it in, he is bringing it in, but he does not bring it in. Watch that ball kind of shift down in Jennings' hands while the players are in the air. Remember the control of the ball has be DEFINITIVELY proven on a replay. (Look at the picture above, you can see Tate's left hand that he supposedly didn't get on the ball until later on, he's got the full bottom of the ball.)
Once they hit the ground Tate has both hands on it, albeit one hand obscured from camera view. It’s close, very very close and could go either way and I really would not have been surprised to see it go Green Bay's way but it is not NFL-ruining obvious. It was not doomsday, just a tough call.There was barely this reaction outside of Detroit after Calvin Johnson’s TD call was clearly botched in week 1 of 2011 season. The reaction is usually limited to the losing fanbase, why this time is it 31 against 1? Because something can actually be done. We can have the replacement ref's heads. If this was just about the call, few outside of Green Bay would even comment on it by midweek.
Remember before replay, Packers? Do you remember Jerry Rice clearly fumbling in the 1999 Wild Card game and it being called down before the 49ers threw the game-winning TD to Owens? Remember in 2001, Jacksonville -vs- Cleveland when the Browns converted a 4th-and-2, spiked the ball, and then the replay officials challenged the play anyways, even though you can’t challenge a play after the next play has been run? They reversed the 4th-and-2 completely and illegally gave the win to Jacksonville. Only eye-rolls and vicious home team rage, today there is something much different than the days after those calls.Do you remember when Detroit and Pittsburgh met at the start of OT for the coin-flip for who would get the ball first, Jerome Bettis called “tails”, the ref saw tails and awarded the choice to the wrong team and the Steelers lost? Why don’t these games deserve asterisks? Why only this one? Because this is the one that happened this week.
(I won't even begin to speak about Super Bowl XL and the lack of outrage that generated, seriously ESPN... go watch that game, watch Rothlisberger’s “touchdown”, watch it be reviewed, and then talk to me about Golden Tate).We do not remember these plays, because they did not happen this week. We have relegated the Ravens highly questionable Field Goal two days ago as a hazy footnote to the replacement referee outrage. It is time to talk about the replacement refs, it’s time to win the battle of extremity! Hang the refs! Cancel the season! Cancel all of the NFL! I’m sure it’s all out there. This call has something that can be done to remedy, something can happen, these refs can be booted, kicked to the curb, so we are seeing a pile-on unlike any before.
It is a bad call, a terribly refereed game, but the point is, every fan in Seattle would take the Super Bowl XLV calls or the Testaverde 4-yard run for a 5-yard TD that cost us the playoffs (Dec 1998, the play that brought back instant replay) and call for an asterisk as well.There just is no perspective in sportswriting. It’s frustrating to watch the media hyperventilate over this like they should have over Super Bowl XLV, but nothing could be done about the Super Bowl and... just like Steelers fans have said time and time again - “you still could have won” and that will always remain true. Did the refs sack reigning NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers 8 times and hold him to 0 TDs? No. Did the refs make the Packers DB Jennings try to intercept the ball when even Middle School players know to bat a hail mary down, bat a hail mary down, bat a hail mary down!
With this situation though, the media and fans are salivating over the prospect of an actual goal, something can actually be achieved by this, the real refs can come back. They can use this leverage and get their pensions and come back. That is what sets this call apart, but “worst call in NFL history”? No way.
