Monday Night Robbery
It’s time. We’re done.
The official referees should come back now. They should have been back weeks ago, but hopefully this—in front of a national TV audience, a clearly blown game-deciding call—will finally break the deadlock.
I don’t normally complain about refereeing, because everybody has calls fall their way and calls that don’t. But if you’re seriously telling me that Golden Tate caught the game-“winning” touchdown—when M.D. Jennings had clearly gone up and intercepted it, had two hands on the ball and held it all the way to the ground—I have no use for you. Never mind Tate shoving Sam Shields to the ground, that is, putting two hands on his back and blatantly knocking him a full yard forward and to the ground. There is no way—none—that that should have been called a touchdown. How it stood as called is beyond me.
For me, the call of the night was ‘on’ Shields against Sidney Rice, when Shields had position on Rice’s inside hip, looking back for the ball, and Rice grabbed him by the facemask. Defensive pass interference, first down. Or was it Erik Walden hitting Russell Wilson in the legs immediately after Wilson released the ball and drawing a roughing the passer penalty? Was it the botched spot on Greg Jennings’s should-have-been first-down at the 1? Was it the personal foul penalty initially called against the Seahawks, then called against the Packers? Or was it the blatant, unprovoked, nowhere-near-the-ball shot that a Seattle defender gave to Greg Jennings, which resulted in Jennings getting tagged with a personal foul?
Terrible. Awful. Disgusting. These words aren’t too strong for the officiating in this game. There were botched calls that went the Seahawks’ way as well, I’m sure, but I’m too angry to think of them right now.
In most games where fans blame the refs afterwards, there are generally reasons why their team lost the game by itself. This game, the Packers have their own set. The Packers’ tackles turned into turnstiles. Perhaps consequently, Aaron Rodgers looked lost and danced around in the pocket far too often. The Packers’ vaunted receivers couldn’t get open against a splendid Seattle secondary. And the defense allowed Golden Tate—for real the first time—to streak by the defense and haul in a 41-yard TD in the first half.
But the defense held on fourth and 10. They held.
They did everything right that you can do and still lost on the worst call I’ve ever seen.
There’s really nothing else to say. Bring the refs back, NFL. It is hurting your product and your brand, and it just cost the Packers a victory; not the first game decided by a blown call, but far from the last this year under the replacement regime. Can you imagine these yahoos in the playoffs? Can you imagine a Super Bowl victory hanging on a blown call from a D-III referee?
It can’t happen, and the whole country saw why last night.
matt jorg
3:41 pm on Tuesday, September 25, 2012
The fact is that there were horrible calls throughout the game and a case could be made that the Packers should not have scored thanks to a botched P.I. call to extend the drive-this makes the score 7-6 Seattle.
CTCMom2009
9:21 am on Wednesday, September 26, 2012
The case can also be made that we should have had an interception instead of them getting a BS roughing the passer call that even Russell Wilson knew was BS when he was talked to by Steve Young. There were bad calls on both sides, but the Packers go the brunt of it.
Greg Burmeister
6:45 am on Wednesday, September 26, 2012
At least there is an eye doctor in Appleton offering free Lasik eye surgery to all the replacement officials. I just hope the NFL opens their collective eyes, and sees what it is doing to their fan base, and get the real refs on the fields before their are no fans left!
Tom
8:24 am on Wednesday, September 26, 2012
The normal crew of referees make plenty of mistakes as well, admittedly not as many as these incompetant replacements. I do not blame the NFL for standing up and not giving in to everything that an employee demands. However, the league is very much at fault for not overturning mistakes made on the field by the officials not just because it has given the upper hand to the union officials but in addition has completely damaged the integrety of the game. -Hard to see this happen to the greatest sport and league on the planet.
Carolyn Tyler
9:10 am on Wednesday, September 26, 2012
I'm dumbfounded that the Referee's and the NFL's Mr.Goodell along with the Seahawks can get away with such a public display of dishonesty. It is very clear on the video that the Packers TJ Jennings's intercepts the ball, brings it to his chest showing possession while Seahawks Golden Tate merely touches the ball with one hand doing his utmost to take the ball from Jennings. Jennings holds onto the ball while the bully Golden Tate does his utmost to get possession of the ball. Jennings never lets go of the ball even with more Seahawks atop of him. Ref #26 immediately was the first to call a Touchdown for the Packers while Ref # 84 follows with a call of Touchback. Either the decision makers were blind, didn't see the play or are being paid or their life threatened. But the fact of the matter is, the Packers in all of reality won that game fair and square. The Seahawks didn't win that game despite the score or the decision of the game. Like the headline in the Seattle Times newspaper read, Seahawks Steal One! Sure, all Packer fans want a win. However, the controversial play isn't about the loss to the Packers that became the disappointment. It's about the lying, cheating, kniving, selfesh, hard headed bullies that have no backbone nor character to do the right thing. The decision makers should not be allowed to get away with denying what really happened in the Packers vs Seahawks game on September 24, 2012.
Mark Schaaf
10:10 am on Wednesday, September 26, 2012
There's always going to be blown calls. You accept that as a sports fan - it's just part of the deal. Sometimes your team will get screwed because of it, and sometimes your team will benefit from it. I tend to think it evens out over time.
But Monday was the first time I felt like an outcome was actually illegitimate. The Packers intercepted the ball and won the game, and then the win got taken away from them. That's the difference between this game and all of the other sports games (be it MLB, basketball, whatever) where officiating played a big part of the outcome.
Natasha
2:06 pm on Wednesday, September 26, 2012
The outcome was ILLEGITIMATE. Something needs to be done.