Touchdown, Seattle

The most controversial play since the famous Immaculate Reception in 1972 took place two nights ago, and the vast majority of fans believe that the play was called incorrectly, 87% according to ESPN's SportsNation. The league, however, agreed with the referees' decision on Tuesday morning. While I may be in the minority, I agree with the league's decision, and here are the reasons why:

One of the most controversial parts of the play was the shove by Golden Tate on a Green Bay defender just before he leaped to attempt the catch. The play should have been called as pass interference, but if you look at the history of similar plays in both NFL and college football (I viewed at least a dozen on YouTube), you will see that the same call could have been made during many of the most famous "Hail Mary" plays in history, including the final play of last season's Michigan State-Wisconsin game, where there was an obvious shove in the back by a Michigan State player just before the ball came down in the hands of the Spartans. The only difference is that in this case the offender happened to be the player who ultimately was awarded the touchdown. It is a common practice, whether right or wrong, to overlook pass interference on game-ending Hail Mary plays, which allows the game to be decided by players on the field rather than an official, and this game was a prime example.

It is also widely believed that the final pass was intercepted by M.D. Jennings, but after seeing the replay at least 20 times, I believe the call on the field was correct. Jennings did indeed get his hands on the ball first, while in air, but Tate grabbed onto the ball with both hands before Jennings touched down, and when Tate came down, Jennings was right on top of him, face to face, the ball gripped between the two players. Since both player had simultaneous possession of the football, NFL rules dictate that the tie goes to the offensive player, who in this case was Tate.

After the two players hit the ground, Jennings attempted to wrestle the ball away from Tate by rolling away from him, which provided the first clear look at the football since he had grabbed it from the air, and that view has been used by many as "proof" that the ball was intercepted, since Tate had only one hand on the ball and Jennings had the ball pinned against his chest, but that all happened after the players were down by contact.

There are many cases in which the ball changes hands at the bottom of a pile and the player who ends up with the ball is awarded possession when the pile is broken up, and in this case, the player who came out holding the ball when the referees had pulled all of the players off the pile was Golden Tate, lying flat on his back, holding the ball out for the world to see in his left hand.

There was also the fact that the two officials nearest to the play gave opposite signals while the players were on the ground. While they obviously saw the play differently, the first signal given was of a touchdown, which becomes the official call on the field, which can then be overturned on review if there is irrefutable video evidence that the call is incorrect. Because there was no proof that Jennings ever had sole possession of the football while touching the ground, there was no way that the call on the field could be overturned, so no matter which way you look at it, the play was called correctly.

It is my belief that because of the proliferation of incorrect calls by the replacement referees over the first few weeks of the season and their inconclusive ruling at the end of the game are the reasons that there has been such a huge uproar about the outcome of this game, as well as the relative popularity of the Green Bay Packers as opposed to the Seattle Seahawks. Although I feel that the replacement referees have not been doing as good a job as the regular referees, in this case I believe that they fulfilled their responsibilities correctly.