Wow, the Seattle Seahawks just jobbed the shoulda-won Green Bay Packers on a crazy non-call of offensive pass interference and a call of simultaneous possesion on the concomitant Hail Mary pass “reception” in the end zone…
In a bizarre ending that capped a tough weekend for replacement officials, the Seattle Seahawks beat the Green Bay Packers 14-12 on Monday night.
Russell Wilson threw a disputed 24-yard touchdown pass to Golden Tate on the final play of the game, a game that finally ended 10 minutes later when both teams were brought back on the field for the extra point.
Wilson scrambled from the pocket and threw to the corner of the end zone as the clock expired. Tate shoved Green Bay’s Sam Shields out of the way, then wrestled with M.D. Jennings for possession. It was ruled on the field as a touchdown and after a lengthy review, referee Wayne Elliott came out from under the hood and announced ”the ruling on the field stands” and CenturyLink Field erupted in celebration. It was nearly 10 minutes before the teams were brought back for the extra point.
The final decision is only going to fuel debate about the replacement officials coming off a weekend filled with disputed calls. None will be debated more than this one. Seattle (2-1) won its second straight, while Green Bay (1-2) lost and saw its streak of wins in six straight road openers snapped.
Okay, what’s my point?
The Eagles just got a huge wake-up call from the Cardinals. Thankfully it had little to do with replacement referee incompetence…and that’s the good news.
We haven’t had a game “stolen” from us by the repacement referees yet. We may yet get to avoid that tragic outcome. But the fact remains, the percentages of playing winning football have systemically decreased for all teams the longer this NFL referee lockout continues.
What this whole “replacement ref” phenomenon does for us, though, is buy us some extra time— time to refine, time to adjust, time to get our act better and more together… Why?— because our divisional and conference rivals are randomly getting crushed and set back a week or more in their preparation by the effects of lousy officiating. You’ve got to figure the NFL will address this factor sooner than later.
Example—
None will be debated more than this one. Seattle (2-1) won its second straight, while Green Bay (1-2) lost and saw its streak of wins in six straight road openers snapped. Russell Wilson’s heave came at the end of a final frantic drive after Seattle had previously missed on a fourth-down attempt from the Green Bay 7 with 2 minutes left. The turnover on downs appeared to end Seattle’s hopes and cap an impressive second-half comeback by the Packers and Aaron Rodgers, who was sacked eight times — all in the first half.
Green Bay averted disaster when John Kuhn fumbled on the Packers first play following the change of possession but center Jeff Saturday recovered. The Seahawks held and forced Green Bay to punt from the 4 with 57 seconds left. The 41-yard punt set Seattle up at the Green Bay 46 with 46 seconds remaining.
Wilson hit Sidney Rice for 22 yards on a slant then went for Tate in the end zone but the ball was batted away with 18 seconds left. He threw over the head of Evan Moore on second down leaving 12 seconds remaining and missed Tate again at the 5.
Wilson took the final snap with 8 seconds remaining. He appeared to be looking for Rice on the right side of the end zone, but rolled left and threw for Tate, who was in a crowd of three Packers defenders. Tate’s shove of Shields was obvious—- and then it was never clear who had possession between Tate and Jennings. Sure looked to me that Jennings had primary possession as he hit the ground…
One ref ruled it an interception and a touchback… the ref that counted ran in and ruled it a touchdown for Tate and Seattle. The official NFL review booth ruled in favor of the touchdown interpretation. But it sure looked like a Green Bay INT to me…
The point I’m trying to make is the Eagles have a lot to prove right now, and they’ve got to realize they’re up against not only the teams on their schedule that are game-planning like crazy now based upon the lousy tape we laid down in Arizona, but also against the random rulings of the replacement refs, as well as against our own sloppy tendencies to occasionally destroy ourselves.
Yes, there is another opponent right now for the Eagles more dangerous than our own self-destructive tendencies, and that opponent is the well-meaning but poorly-executed mission of the replacement referees.
All of this current-events background plays into the probability that Andy Reid will stay with Mike Vick as his QB#1 through the upcoming Giants game and beyond. Ironically enough, Vick represents “stability” in the madness currently defining the NFL environment… It’s no secret that starter Vick has struggled this season. He’s completing a low percentage of his passes and turning the ball over at an alarming rate, plus he’s taking a terrible pounding every game….
On Monday, less than 24 hours after the debacle in the desert, Reid was asked if he considered making a change during the game and if Vick was still his starting quarterback. Said Reid: “Right now, we’re with Michael. We’ll evaluate it as we go.”
As Nick Fierro of the Allentown Morning Call noted, that “leaves a gray area and that’s something Reid never does with his quarterbacks. He could have simply said that Vick was his starter, period, just as he’s done in the past, but he didn’t. Eagles fans are used to hearing Reid say things like that about a nickel cornerback or third wide receiver, but not his starting quarterback — there’s nothing Reid hates more than a quarterback controversy and he’s always done his best to avoid it.”
It would still be a major upset if Reid benched Vick now, just three games into the season, especially since his backup, Nick Foles, is a rookie who’s never played in a real NFL game. In fact, expect Reid to make a point of addressing the issue on Wednesday and give Vick the strong endorsement he didn’t give him on Monday. Plus—why would you want to throw the young Foles into a situation where the offensive line is still unsettled? Why not save Foles for the return of a plus OL, even if it means waiting for Jason Peters to return to form from his Achilles rehab in 2013?
The Eagles, despite Vick’s poor play and their other problems on offense, are still tied for first place in the NFC East and they have a prime-time showdown Sunday with the Super Bowl-champion New York Giants. That might be too hot a fire in which to throw Foles. [Note—but don’t rule out Trent Edwards, who is more game-ready than Foles based solely upon experience to take over a bad situation if necessary….]
But even if Reid doesn’t make a change, it’s clear he sees what everybody else sees — Vick is indecisive at times and holds the ball too long and makes too many bad decisions and turns it over too many times, and that’s why his QB rating (66.3) is 29th in the 32-team NFL.
And you can’t blame that on the replacement refs…
And the one thing that Vick is supposed to do as well as any quarterback in the league— throw the deep pass— isn’t there because defenses are taking it away with deep coverage. The Eagles’ longest pass completion on Sunday was 34 yards, but that was to tight end Brent Celek, and they haven’t completed a pass 50 yards or longer all season. Still, the Eagles went into the Arizona game convinced they could beat the Cardinals’ defense for some big plays.
“We thought we had some opportunities downfield in the throwing game,” Reid said. “We went in thinking we would probably protect better than we did and be able to exploit some of the things we saw.”
Reid then confirmed something that’s been obvious for a while — even though the Eagles have one of the best running backs in the game in LeSean McCoy, that’s not the way they play the game. “We’ve got explosive players, and with that you’re going to take your shots [downfield],” Reid said. “That’s what we do. That’s one of our strengths and has been over the last few years. So, we’ll continue to do that.”
Bottom line of this argument— While the rest of the league has been distracted by the strange events of lousy replacement officiating, the Eagles have had a 3-game cushion of discovering their deficiencies at QB and offensive playcalling without a massive intrusion by the national media.
We’ve had our chances to fix the early mistakes and negative tendencies. We haven’t lost a game yet to a bad call by a replacement ref…in fact, we might have actually been helped to a win by the replacements. But that’s a theory which will never be proved.
So on that basis, my recommendation is the Eagles collectively put the Arizona Cardinals’ game behind them… count their blessings at 2-1… get totally behind Vick in both protection formation technique and emotional support… and look forward to the New York Giants divisional contest coming up at the end of this week. Ain’t nothing to fear more than the replacement refs’ blunders, as was demonstrated this past night to Green Bay… so what is there to fear? We’ve already made all the mistakes anyone can make from the football side of things—and we’re still 2-1. Philly should just continue to keep playing its game…no worries…we should know by now what it takes to get to the next level. And we’ll take our chances with the replacement referees.
As Brizer has stated, Vick is now unofficially “on probation”… Vick knows what he has to do to restore confidence to the leadership position he’s responsible for. The offensive line personnel know full well too what they’ve got to do to read and block the A-Gap blitzes better and faster… their failures in this department are distinctly linked to their quarterback’s success possibilities. Vick can handle the occasional breakdown off the edges, but not the straight pass rush tsunami up the middle and over the center…
That’s why it’s a team game. If your QB is getting smacked around like a pinata doll, it’s not because of the replacement referees—or because of the QB’s death wish. It’s because your protection scheme needs to be thought out a whole lot better. And the QB getting rid of the ball faster helps, too…plus receivers need to get open a whole lot quicker… It’s never just about one guy…
That’s why I hope we as Eagles fans will not panic after a tough loss to the Cardinals. Yes, I know the first two wins over Cleveland and Baltimore were a bit dicey, but we’re finally getting to know our own limitations and improving our approach accordingly. The best is yet to come. Remember, the objective is to get better and healthier as the season blossoms into December and January. We’re making our mistakes early with enough time to self-correct. And so far, we are one of the lucky teams that has not had a “W” robbed from them by the replacement refs.
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