Even with New Central Replay System in Place, Blown Call Benefits Seahawks

Most NFL fans still vividly remember the controversial touchdown call by replacement officials that handed the Seattle Seahawks a Monday night win over the Green Bay Packers two years ago.

The potentially blown call created a spearhead for the criticism directed at the replacements during the referee lockout of 2012, but it's not like the real officials have been perfect with every call since returning to the job. 

The NFL's implementation of a central review system this season was supposed to help the league's officials move closer toward perfection. At the very least, it was supposed to ensure that completely botched calls—especially in critical situations—would become a thing of the past.

The new system allows referees to consult with the league's Officiating Command Center in New York as they view replays at game sites. The command center communicates with officials via headset in order to make sure that replay reviews are handled correctly.

"It's still a referee review; he has the ultimate authority," NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino said of the process, via ESPN.com's Jeff Legwold. "We'll come to a consensus. We're certainly not going to let him make a mistake, but the referee has the final authority on the call.''

Unfortunately, it appears that the guys in New York will allow officials to make a mistake on replay reviews, at least on occasion.

One such occasion occurred on Sunday, and it ironically involved the Seahawks.

Percy Harvin scored on a nifty 51-yard run in the first quarter of Seattle's game against the Chargers in San Diego. The score briefly gave Seattle a four-point lead and could have been a vital play had the Chargers not pulled out the 30-21 victory. 

The problem with the touchdown run is that Harvin clearly stepped out of bounds while racing toward the end zone.

The even bigger problem is the fact that the touchdown was allowed to stand, even though all scoring plays are reviewed.

According to former NFL Vice President of Officiating Mike Pereira, the play was reviewed by the command center in New York and the touchdown was still upheld. This means that in addition to allowing the officials in San Diego to make a mistake, the command center made a huge mistake of its own.  

“This play had to get stopped,” Pereira said during the Fox broadcast. “This is the first breakdown I've seen of this new system where New York is a part of it.”

The Seahawks may have eventually scored on the drive anyway, and the call didn't cost San Diego the game. However, it is virtually impossible not to point to the blown call as a potentially major factor in the game, especially given that the Seahawks found themselves down just six points in the final minutes of the contest. 

This was a complete failure by everyone involved in the replay process and the league has to find a way to ensure that easy calls like this one aren't blown in the future.

The Chargers will probably be calling the league to find out how it was allowed to happen in the first place.