Last night, the Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks played a football game that ended in a 6-6 tie, after both teams missed chip shot field goals in the final minutes of overtime. It was absolutely brutal.
While the two field goals missed in overtime got most of the attention, it was a missed field goal in the second quarter that had Arizona head coach Bruce Arians fuming after the game.
Cardinals kicker Chandler Catanzaro had a 39-yard field goal attempt blocked early in the second quarter when Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner leaped over Cardinals long-snapper Aaron Brewer to block the kick:
Up.
And over.
And BLOCKED by @BWagz54.Wow. #SEAvsAZ https://t.co/I5aRt3kVyG
— NFL (@NFL) October 24, 2016
Arians thought that Wagner touched Brewer to hurdle him and block the kick, which should result in a penalty. He threw the red flag to challenge the call, but the play is not reviewable, so he was charged with a timeout to only make matters worse.
Well, Arians went off in the postgame press conference, slipping a “bullshit” bomb by SportsCenter:
“He definitely touched him. I’m sure I’ll talk to the league and we’ll get some kind of explanation that’s all bullshit like normal.”
NFL senior vice president of officiating Dean Blandino and former vice president of officiating Mike Pereira think the call was correct:
That wasnt a foul for leaping or leverage or an illegal formation. He jumps over and grazes the center. He lands on his feet not a player.
— Mike Pereira (@MikePereira) October 24, 2016
In #SEAvsAZ you have to land on the player for it to be a foul. The block was legal. — Dean Blandino (@DeanBlandino) October 24, 2016
Regardless of whether the call is right or not, Arians’ “we’ll get some kind of explanation that’s all bullshit like normal” line is is 100% spot-on when it comes to the NFL these days.
[ESPN]
