Caldwell said he planned to tell his players not to discuss the officials missing Wright illegally batting the ball out of the end zone after Calvin Johnson fumbled the would-be, go-ahead touchdown, a penalty that would’ve given the Lions first-and-goal with 1:45 remaining.
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Late in the game, very late in the game as the Lions were driving for a possible game winning TD, they nearly had it. Lions QB Matthew Stafford hit star WR Calvin Johnson with a crossing pattern and the 6-5, 230 lb Johnson was headed towards the goal line.
Dean Blandino, NFL vice president of officiating, told NFL network immediately following the game that the NFL has a clear rule of illegal batting. “That is a foul”.
Thanks to a missed call by referees, the Detroit Lions were denied a shot to win their first game of the season on Monday night.
The Lions (0-4) are the only winless team in the National Football League, and they face another tough opponent this weekend when they host Arizona. That includes among players, many of whom said after the game they were unaware they weren’t allowed to bat the ball out of the end zone. No flags were thrown and on the ensuing possession, the Seahawks ran off the final seconds for the win to improve to 2-and-2.
Ok, yes, our team, our fans, were victims of an injustice in the 13-10 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
Under near-constant pressure, Wilson completed 20 of 26 passes for 287 yards and a touchdown, displaying his creative scrambling abilities but also coughing up two of his team’s fumbles. But then the loose ball was batted out of the end zone by Seattle, which is illegal.
“I didn’t know the rule either, ” Carroll said. “But we have a game and it’s a really good game and it flows pretty well – a little longer than we’d like this year, but it flows pretty well – and you’ve got to make sure that as you adjust those rules, that you’re still dealing with those issues”. “I just think it’s unfortunate because it was such an incredible play”, Carroll said.
Pete Carroll said he had never witnessed a similar play and added that he didn’t know the rule himself – a loose ball can not be batted in any direction in the end zone. This included holding Abdullah to just 33 yards on 13 carries, and holding the running game in general to just 53 total yards on the ground.
“You can’t hit it backwards, and you can’t intentionally, I guess, knock it out”, Wright said after being informed of the rule in the locker room.
If we can’t count on the letter of the rule, what can we count on? That included a proposal by the New England Patriots to make all plays in a game subject to a potential replay review.
Kam Chancellor punches ball out after reception at 1. And that, as with most judgment calls, it was harder to gauge in real-time than through instant replay.
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After recovering a Tyler Lockett muffled punt, Detroit was unable to move the ball and the Seattle defense continued it’s dominance by forcing four consecutive Detroit punts.
