Poor officiating in pivotal Rams-Seahawks game under fire: ‘Lions should be livid’
Only the Detroit Lions can get royally screwed by the refs in a game they’re not even playing.
Thanks, in part, to missteps by NFL officials in the Seattle Seahawks-Los Angeles Rams game, the Lions’ playoff hopes last week were dashed before the game vs. the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field on Sunday Night Football.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports some around the NFL think the “Lions should be livid” about several pro-Seahawks calls in a game Seattle won in overtime, 19-16, to keep Dan Campbell and Co. out of the playoffs.
“Multiple executives and coaches said the NFL needs to reevaluate how it chooses and trains its officiating staff for future seasons,” Schefter wrote late Friday. “… Even the NFL’s competition committee is aware of what one source described to ESPN ‘as the worst officiated game of the year.'”
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The committee, a group of league coaches and executives that examine rules and officiating practices each offseason, was frustrated by the Seattle-LA game, as were the Lions and Rams, Schefter reports.
“One source told ESPN this week that the NFL must do a better job of screening, hiring and training its officials,” he said, “the league can’t have games in which teams’ seasons are on the line and have questionable and impactful calls such as the ones in the Rams-Seahawks Week 18 game.”
To recap, the Lions needed a Seahawks loss Sunday plus a win over the Green Bay Packers to clinch the seventh and final spot in the NFC playoffs. (The Packers could have clinched a spot with a win regardless of the Seahawks’ result.) Seattle played Sunday afternoon while Detroit played at night, meaning the Lions knew the result of that game when they took the field.
dispatched the Packers on the road and prevented their rival from making the playoffs.
But how bad was the officiating in Seattle? To be fair, Lions fans are used to complaining about refs — they did so while overcoming questionable calls during the Packers game — so this is nothing new, right?
Well:
– A running-into-the-kicker penalty on LA with 8:47 left in the fourth quarter should not have been called. The flagged player Rams was pushed into Seahawks punter Michael Dickson, meaning the flag should have been picked up. The Seahawks were trailing by three at the time, and instead of punting to the Rams from their own 21, they maintained possession and later tied it at 16 with just over 2 minutes left.