Referees were terrible for Seahawks in Week 12 but weren’t the issue
By Lee Vowell
The referees were a mess in Week 12 when the Seahawks were beaten by the Raiders 40-34 in overtime. To be fair, NFL referees are in a weird spot. They are not full-time employees but do take full-time criticism even when they are good, which is most of the time. But in Seattle’s Sunday game, they were quite bad.
Two calls went against Seattle late in the fourth quarter that shouldn’t have. On the first, the Raiders were driving and near Seattle’s 10-yard line. Josh Jacobs took the hand and ran right where he was tackled.
His knee never touched the ground and he clearly fumbled the ball before hitting the ground. The problem for Seattle was that the referees ruled that Jacobs’ forward progress had been stopped. If it had and the referees blew the play dead, it would have been an extremely quick whistle. The Seahawks should have had the ball and that may have sealed the game. Seattle led 34-27 with 2:25 left.
While the referees were bad in Week 12, the Seahawks lost for other reasons
On the second call and Seattle’s ensuing drive with the score tied at 34-all, Geno Smith threw a pass to DK Metcalf that Metcalf caught. Or at least that’s what the referee on the field said. To overturn calls, the replay booth is supposed to have indisputable video evidence. They didn’t.
The NFL reviewed the catch for minutes (not seconds) and finally ruled that Metcalf didn’t control the pass. Catches have been called catches for a lot more than what Metcalf did which was slightly bobble the ball. The pay would have given the Seahawks a first down and put them about 10 yards away from field goal range.
But another call the referees failed to make went Seattle’s way. After safety Quandre Diggs intercepted a pass on the Raiders’ first drive and got up to start running, Seahawks linebacker Darrell Taylor ran off the sidelines in what seemed to be to join in on the celebration. The thing is, the play wasn’t dead and Taylor actually began blocking a bit. What was Taylor thinking? No idea but at least the referees didn’t see it.
Next. 3 Seahawks that were awful in Week 12. dark
Seattle didn’t lose because of bad officiating. They may have not won because of it. Seattle still could have stopped the Raiders from scoring and Seattle would have still had to make a field goal. But the NFL should be embarrassed by the quality of officiating this year and start making the refs more accountable by hiring some of them as full-time employees. That way they can be critiqued correctly.