As a Packer fan I was not going to write anything about last night's game as I did not want it to come off as sour grapes because the Packers lost. After reading the NFL's statement about that
call I could not stay silent:
Referee Wayne Elliott determined that no indisputable visual evidence existed to overturn the call on the field, and as a result, the on-field ruling of touchdown stood. The NFL Officiating Department reviewed the video today and supports the decision not to overturn the on-field ruling following the instant replay review.
The result of the game is final.
The problem with the NFL's statement and explanation is that there was no simultaneous catch. Replays show that it was an interception. Not only was it an interception; who caught the ball should not have even mattered as offensive pass interference should have been called on Seattle's Golden Tate as he pushed off of the Packer's Sam Shields just prior to the catch.
As Peter King says on SI.com today:
[T]he most egregious mistake of all. With the regular officials, after what appears to be a close call like this one, the side judge and back judge would confer with any other officials who had a view of it, with the referee hustling in to adjudicate. But Elliott was nowhere to be seen, and before he even asked Rhone-Dunn what he'd seen, Easley looked at the pile and shot his arms up and ruled a touchdown. Rhone-Dunn at the same time appeared to be preparing to call a touchback. But Easley's touchdown call usurped Rhone-Dunn's first reaction -- and that was to call the play dead by waving his arms over his head.
That conference did not happen. Had it happened maybe the pass interference gets called, maybe the correct call of interception is made? We will never know because scab officials who, by all appearances, have never actually seen a football game, decided to make a call just to make a call.
Roger Goodell and the NFL owners, you have lost all credibility at this point. The call in last night's game was obviously wrong. By upholding that call the NFL, in my eyes, has lost all credibility (It does not matter if the call was "reviewable" or not the wrong call was made and it should have been corrected).
When Major League Baseball cancelled the World Series in 1994 I stopped watching MLB. I was more than just a casual fan back in those days. I have not watched, nor have I attended, a Major League game since 1994.
I have not watched a game since the regular officials were locked out. This boneheaded decision has just turned me off to the NFL. You had a chance to right a wrong. You chose not to. Goodbye NFL. I might be back when you fix this debacle; however, you have made it clear that it is money you care about and not the integrity of the game.
Sign our petition telling NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and the league's billionaire owners to end the lockout and bring back the real referees.