Seahawks Pete Carroll rightfully peeved by officiating in week 10

The NFL officiating this season has overall been bad. But in week 10, the lack of quality officiating possibly affects the outcome of the Seahawks and Packers game. Coach Pete Carroll doesn’t normally discuss how a game was called but on Monday he felt he needed to bring attention to several calls.

Of course, the NFL has seen a rash of bad officiating this year. In week 9, the Steelers and Bears game was basically decided by the officials and not the teams involved. The NFL even somewhat admitted to this.

But in week 10, there were so many bad calls (or non-calls) by the officials that it certainly affected the first three quarters and hurt the Seahawks a lot more than the Packers.  This doesn’t even take into account three clear false starts by the Packers tackles of which none were called. Once the Seahawks were called for offsides when the Packers clearly moved early.

NFL officials arguably changed the outcome of the Seahawks and Packers game

The three specific “gripes” that Carroll had about the officiating in week 10 were a fumble recovery by Seattle’s Darrell Taylor which was called for the Packers, Russell Wilson’s “intercepted” pass by Kevin King in the Packers end zone and a scramble by Wilson in the first quarter that was a first down but the officials changed the spot to have Wilson just short.

On the last one, Wilson was clearly across the line he needed to make a first. The ball was across the line and his knee was not yet down. Watching on live TV, there was no doubt it should have been ruled a first down and kept the drive alive but it was a terrible spot that forced Seattle to punt on fourth down.

Kevin King’s non-catch that was ruled an interception should not have been ruled so. King lost the ball when he hit the ground and NFL rules state a player must maintain possession when he hits the ground to complete the catch. King didn’t. Was it a bad throw by Wilson? Yes. But if not ruled an interception the Seahawks would have had a fairly easy field goal attempt on the next play and if made would have tied the game at 3 in the third quarter.

Finally, I am still confused on how the officials saw fit to give the ball to the Packers when Darrell Taylor clearly had control of the ball first and last after a botched snap to Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers never had control of the ball and simply had his hands on the ball as Taylor had the ball, lying face down, wrapped in his arms. It was a complete crap call and the NFL had to know it.

All these plays affected the drives the teams were on and in such a close game until late in the fourth quarter the calls changed the game. Was the Seahawks still bad? Of course. But Seattle had potential points taken away (the King interception negated a field goal attempt) by the officials.

The NFL needs to fix its officiating problem right now. The league has always thought it was the best and biggest sport around and it is in the United States. But the NBA is catching up and with the league itself through its officials changing outcomes of games, people might rightfully start thinking the whole thing is rigged.