| Officials
signal after Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Golden Tate pulled
in a last-second pass from quarterback Russell Wilson to
defeat the Green Bay Packers 14-12 in an NFL football game in
Seattle. The touchdown call stood after review. |
 |
GREEN BAY —
Entire stadiums have booed them. The Patriots' Bill Belichick
grabbed one by the arm and the Redskins' Kyle Shanahan was so
hopping mad he followed one into the tunnel after the game.
But it took
the team that Vince Lombardi built, playing in a "Monday Night
Football" headliner, to put the NFL's latest labor headache —
locked-out officials and their struggling, under-fire replacements
— front and center for the nation. Even President Barack Obama, a
Bears fan slogging through a re-election campaign, weighed in
Tuesday, saying, "We've got to get our refs back."
Is this where
the NFL's lockout of its regular refs comes to an end? On a call
that many believe cost the Packers and their Cheesehead-wearing
followers a win at Seattle?
The NFL stood
fast, giving no sign Tuesday that it was close to reaching a new
labor pact with the referees' union. But the outrage grew beyond NFL
players (risking fines for speaking out) like Falcons tight end
Anthony Gonzalez, who tweeted: "How do you miss that? Pop
Warner refs would have gotten that right."
LeBron James
tweeted he was "sick" about it and Dirk Nowitzki said he
was "not gonna watch another nfl game until real refs"
return, while fans pretty much everywhere except Seattle concluded
that Green Bay was robbed. Some threatened to boycott until order is
restored and others tried to pull the plug on their NFL satellite
television packages, only to be told that they can't cancel in the
middle of the season.
"I don't
really want to give them money if they're going to be greedy about
things," said Packers fan Chris Kroening, who lives in
Milwaukee. "It's just not that fun to watch any more. I can
find better things to do on a Sunday afternoon than watch refs make
bad calls."
For all their
outrage, Kroening and Michael Mantuano, a Packers fan in Pine Bluff,
Ark., both acknowledged that they would probably be watching on
Sunday when Green Bay hosts the Saints.
"Yeah,
I'm going to watch the game because I still love the Packers,"
Mantuano said. "But it's a bitter pill to swallow on Tuesday
morning when it just clearly wasn't the right call."
It all started
when Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson's last-gasp pass into the
end zone appeared to be hauled down by Packers defensive back M.D.
Jennings while Seahawks receiver Golden Tate also got his hands on
the ball.
Two
replacement officials made contrasting signals — one indicated a
touchdown, the other an interception — and they eventually ruled
on the field that Tate had simultaneous possession with Jennings,
which counts as a reception by the offensive player.
Touchdown,
Seattle. Game over, Packers.
The NFL
acknowledged Tuesday that Tate should have been flagged for
offensive pass interference earlier on the play, which would have
ended the game with a Packers victory. But league officials said the
referee was correct that no indisputable visual evidence existed on
a replay review to overturn the touchdown call.
The result of
the game, 14-12 Seattle, was final.
That's
certainly not how the Packers saw it, insisting that Jennings
clearly had intercepted the pass.
Quarterback
Aaron Rodgers called it "awful" in his postgame interview
and he didn't let up Tuesday. He called the league's conclusion
"garbage" and said the officials were responsible for a
"phantom" pass interference call earlier against the
Packers before having "zero communication" after the final
play.
"I've got
to do something that the NFL is not going to do: I have to apologize
to the fans," Rodgers said on his weekly radio show on ESPN
540-AM in Milwaukee. "Our sport is generated — the
multibillion-dollar machine — is generated by people who pay good
money to watch us play. And the product that's on the field is not
being complemented by an appropriate set of officials.
"The
games are getting out of control, and like I said in the first week,
I said this, I'm OK with the replacement refs as long as they don't
have a direct impact on the game," Rodgers said.
"Obviously, last night, there was a direct impact on the
game."
He added:
"The game is being tarnished by an NFL who obviously cares more
about saving some money than having the integrity of the game
diminished."
Dallas Cowboys
owner Jerry Jones told KRLD-FM in Dallas that he didn't catch the
end of the game.
"I cut it
off about halftime," he said. "I just read a little note
in the paper that the Seahawks pulled it out."
Packers guard
T.J. Lang posted a message on his Twitter account criticizing the
call, then challenged the NFL to "Fine me and use the money to
pay the regular refs." On Tuesday, Lang apologized for using
profanity in his posts — but said that was the only thing he
regretted.
Fellow Packers
offensive lineman Josh Sitton used his Twitter account to call on
the NFL to come to Green Bay and apologize to the Packers.
"The NFL
needs to get the refs back (before) we strike and they make no
money!" Sitton posted after the game.
Rodgers, a
players' union representative during the lockout, expressed
skepticism about that happening and said, "Let's remember who
we're dealing with."
"We're
dealing with an NFL who locked out the players and said we're going
to stand firm on our position," he said on the radio show.
"... This is an NFL who gambled on some low-level referees,
including the guy who makes the most important call last night,
who's never had any professional experience."
After the
so-called "Inaccurate Reception," a small Facebook group
advocated an "Occupy Lambeau" protest movement before
Sunday's game against New Orleans. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker used
his Twitter account to call for the return of the regular officials
— a public show of support for locked-out unionized workers, an
odd juxtaposition given his national reputation for going after
public employee unions last year.
For all the
bluster, few expect many empty seats or unwatched television sets on
NFL Sundays.
"I mean,
it's not the Packers' fault," Kroening said. "I pretty
much live and die by watching them."
Mantuano, the
other fan, said he was concerned that a team will miss the playoffs
or a star player will get hurt because of a replacement official's
mistake. He wondered aloud about the health of Rodgers, Tom Brady
and Tony Romo.
Oddsmakers
said millions of dollars changed hands on that now-famous play.
"Due to
one call by the replacement refs, the bettors lost $150 million, and
the bookie won $150 million for a total swing of $300 million on one
debatably bad call," said RJ Bell of Las Vegas-based
Pregame.com.