Officials miss call on Calvin Johnson fumble that costs Lions a potential win
Just a few feet from the exact spot as the Fail Mary gift the Seattle Seahawks got from the officials on “Monday Night Football” a few years ago, the officials seemingly blew another call on Monday night that helped give the Seahawks a win.
Just before Calvin Johnson crossed the goal line, which would have given the Detroit Lions the lead with less than two minutes left, Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor punched the ball out. As the fumble was bouncing through the end zone, linebacker K.J. Wright batted the ball out of bounds. The back judge was right there looking down the line when it happened.
A penalty likely should have been called, and the Lions should have had the ball inside the 1-yard line with a chance to win. Instead, Detroit lost 13-10.
Former NFL official Gerry Austin said on ESPN’s postgame show that Wright should have been called for a penalty because it’s illegal to bat the ball out of the end zone like he did. NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino told ESPN that back judge Greg Wilson “felt it was not an intentional act, that it was inadvertent.” If Wright just went for the ball and happened to hit it out, that’s not a penalty. It’s only a penalty if it was intentional, and Blandino said when he watched the replay it looked intentional.
“On replay, it looks like a bat,” Blandino said on NFL Network.
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said that Wright did bat it out, and admitted the Seahawks got away with one.
“He was trying to knock it out. He did that,” Carroll said in his postgame press conference. “It’s unfortunate the officials didn’t know how to do it, for their sake. It’s the way it goes sometimes. Plays happen, and calls get made, and we live with it.”
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Austin also said that if the penalty was called as it should have been, the ball would also have been moved half the distance to the goal line, which would have been inside the 1-yard line.
The play was not reviewable because it was a judgment call, Blandino said.
The analysts on the field, including former quarterback Steve Young, were baffled and said they didn’t know the rule. Apparenly nobody did. None of the Lions seemed to argue. The Seahawks took possession, got a first down and the game was over.
Illegal batting has been called before. In 2013 the Pittsburgh Steelers batted a ball out of bounds against the Green Bay Packers, and the ball went back to the Packers (h/t to CBS’ Eye on Football).
There will be a lot of discussion about the rarely called penalty and how the Seahawks got a big break from the officials, just like they did in 2012 on Golden Tate’s disputed touchdown on the final play against the Packers. Those, however, were replacement officials for the Fail Mary. It’s hard to figure out how all the regular officials on the field Monday night missed the illegal batting call. And it’s not like the 0-4 Lions will get to replay the game again from that blown call on.
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
