Seahawks' Hail Mary Another Example of Terrible Replacement Ref Officiating

On Monday Night Football, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson completed a last-second Hail Mary attempt that receiver Golden Tate hauled in to sink the Green Bay Packers, 14-12. 

Except the replacement officials committed their biggest gaffe yet this season, and it cost the Packers the game in jaw-dropping fashion. 

Tate did not actually catch the football; rather, Packers defensive back M.D. Jennings intercepted the pass, retained possession and then had the ball ripped from him by Tate after both had hit the ground. 

Not to mention Tate committed a clear-as-day offensive pass interference penalty while the jump-ball was in the air, shoving Packers corner Sam Shields to the ground moments before the jump.

While a pass that is caught by both a receiver and a defender and deemed a tie, by rule, goes to the offense, this was the furthest thing from a tie, as Jennings clearly had possession. Tate simply had one hand on the ball until he ripped it out. 

To make matters worse for the replacement officials, after a few moments of hesitation, one referee signaled a touchback, the other a touchdown. One made the correct call, which would have resulted in a Packers victory, the other handed the game to the Seahawks while blatantly watching Jennings cradle the football on the ground. 

SportsCenter quickly dug into the rule book postgame, and Bleacher Report promptly posted their work on Twitter:

As if things could not get worse, the replacements huddled and reviewed the replay and still concluded it a Seattle touchdown. But hey, they did make both teams come back out of their locker rooms to kick the extra point. 

None of this should come as a surprise. The entire game was horribly officiated—from phantom pass interference and personal fouls to a curious roughing-the-quarterback call after the Packers had intercepted Wilson late in the fourth quarter. 

The string of unfortunate calls tarnished what was an otherwise outstanding game, highlighted by defense. Seattle wreaked havoc on Aaron Rodgers and Co. all night, but the Packers made brilliant halftime adjustments that should have resulted in a victory. 

Instead, the Packers go home with a loss and the locked-out officials have more ammunition than ever. After this nationally-televised debacle, one has to think the NFL will cave and meet the demands of the officials as soon as possible. 

There is no plausible way commissioner Roger Goodell and the league continues to simply ignore the incompetence of the replacement officials, right?

On Monday Night Football, we all witnessed a historic moment in NFL history. It's a black eye on America's national sport, but should we really be surprised? It was only a matter of time before the replacements ruined the outcome of a game, and it came on the sport's biggest regular-season stage of them all. 

The Seahawks' Hail-Mary-win-that-wasn't is just another example of how the NFL is Roger Goodell's world and the rest of us are simply forced to live in it.

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