In a strange year for NFL officials, things ratcheted up a notch on Monday night between the Seattle Seahawks and Buffalo Bills.
Somehow officials managed to royally screw up a first half-ending field goal attempt(s) by Bills kicker Dan Carpenter.
First they allowed Richard Sherman to come through and knock the crap out of Carpenter after being offsides. Then they made Carpenter take the next play off (with a few seconds left on the clock) because of an injury he sustained on the play.
https://vine.co/v/5j19391iWPM
That was followed up by an official standing over the football while the play clock was winding down to around five seconds, allowing no time for the kick to actually get off and causing a delay of game penalty.
Naturally, Carpenter missed a 54-yard field goal by inches and what should’ve been a 28-20 Seahawks lead was left at 28-17. Equally as naturally, Bills head coach Rex Ryan was steaming mad too.
“Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous,” Ryan said afterwards. “It was wrong. It’s clear what happened. The guy roughed our kicker. … From an officiating standpoint I think they can do a little better than that.”
Ryan also went off on Richard Sherman and his actions following the first of the three plays the officials got wrong.
“He roughed our kicker and then he’s over on the sideline basically taunting us. I told him, ‘You’re too good of a player to act like an (expletive).’ “
If you are counting at home, there are at least three mistakes officials made and one could argue a fourth as well. So, how should this scenario actually have gone off?
One thing we do know is it shouldn’t have gone down the way it actually did, as the NFL admitted to mistakes made by officials on the play.
NFL Vice President of Officiating, Dean Biandino, Tweeted out what should’ve been called on that final play:
At the end of the half in #BUFvsSEA its unnecessary roughness for hitting the kicker. Foul means he can stay in the game.
— Dean Blandino (@DeanBlandino) November 8, 2016
That meant the 48-yard attempt should’ve been able to have gone off without having to clock the football with one second remaining. It also meant that the officials shouldn’t have been late to reset the football and not also reset the play clock.
Basically, there is no way this play should’ve gone down the way it did, and the Bills likely should’ve had three more points on the board.
Of course, we will never know if that one-possession lead would’ve been a difference maker. What we do know is that Jimmy Graham finally had the day everyone was waiting for in Seattle and the Seahawks went on to win 31-25.
