The Straw That Broke the Camel's Back?

This hail mary touchdown is easily the most controversial call the replacement referees have made this season

   The officiating from the replacement referees has finally come to a tipping point. They have gotten worse and worse as the weeks have gone by, and have had the same issues time and time again. Games are still taking way too long. They have no control over the players or the game. There have been more bad calls and more phantom calls. The replacements still appear clueless, and still get the rules wrong. But finally, on top of it all, they have directly effected the outcome of a game - in the wrong way.
    The Packers/Seahawks game on Monday night came down to the final play. Honestly though the Seahawks shouldn't even have been in position to make this play. There were two AWFUL calls, one being a bad pass interference call (surprise), that brought the Seahawks all the way to the Green Bay 28 yard line on the final drive. Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson threw up a hail mary into the end zone that was clearly intercepted by the Packers. Not only that, receiver Golden Tate blatantly pushed off of Green Bay cornerback Sam Shields. That right there should have been a penalty for offensive pass interference. Game over.
    Anyway, Packers defensive back M.D. Jennings jumped over everyone and grabbed the ball. Interception, game over...right? When everyone came to the ground Seattle receiver Golden Tate reached his right hand over and tried to grab the ball, but never had possession. The side judge ran in and signaled touchdown. Uhh...what? The back judge signaled for a touchback (which was the right call). Then, instead of conferring with the other two refs, the head official just ran straight to the replay booth. They didn't even make an official call on the field!
    The call was then "confirmed" after the official reviewed the replay that it was a touchdown. The game ended with Seattle getting a two point win over Green Bay because of the call. The immediate reaction post game was pretty much the same all around. How could the refs screw this up? Colin Cowherd of ESPN called the officiating on the play a "perfect storm of incompetence." Both Steve Young and Trent Dilfer had something to say about it during the post-game, and many of the Packers players took to Twitter to vent. Even New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees expressed his displeasure via Twitter.

"We've built something great, and we're not surrounding it with partners that are competent to do the same job that everyone else has put their time and effort into over a long period of time over the years. And now we're actually dragging it down!" - Steve Young

"You get so frustrated with incompetence that it turns into anger. In life we get frustrated with stuff and it turns into anger, and I'm angry because the NFL has insulted my intelligence. They've insulted your intelligence and everybody here watching the game because they're trying to tell us it's not that big of a deal. Well, we have a hundreds of billions of dollars machine and we're letting this ruin it! It's tearing at the fabric of the game." - Trent Dilfer

    We all saw this coming. It was just a matter of time until these inexperienced officials cost a team a game. What makes matters worse is that it doesn't seem like, at this point anyway, that the owners even care. The NFL released this statement today regarding the call. 

Note: The following is a statement issued by the NFL regarding Golden Tate's game-winning touchdown catch at the conclusion of Monday night's game between the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks:

"In Monday's game between the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks, Seattle faced a 4th-and-10 from the Green Bay 24 with eight seconds remaining in the game. Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson threw a pass into the end zone. Several players, including Seattle wide receiver Golden Tate and Green Bay safety M.D. Jennings, jumped into the air in an attempt to catch the ball.

While the ball is in the air, Tate can be seen shoving Green Bay cornerback Sam Shields to the ground. This should have been a penalty for offensive pass interference, which would have ended the game. It was not called and is not reviewable in instant replay.

When the players hit the ground in the end zone, the officials determined that both Tate and Jennings had possession of the ball. Under the rule for simultaneous catch, the ball belongs to Tate, the offensive player. The result of the play was a touchdown.

Replay Official Howard Slavin stopped the game for an instant replay review. The aspects of the play that were reviewable included if the ball hit the ground and who had possession of the ball. In the end zone, a ruling of a simultaneous catch is reviewable. That is not the case in the field of play, only in the end zone.
Referee Wayne Elliott determined that no indisputable visual evidence existed to overturn the call on the field, and as a result, the on-field ruling of touchdown stood. The NFL Officiating Department reviewed the video today and supports the decision not to overturn the on-field ruling following the instant replay review.

The result of the game is final.

Applicable rules to the play are as follows:

A player (or players) jumping in the air has not legally gained possession of the ball until he satisfies the elements of a catch listed here.

Rule 8, Section 1, Article 3 of the NFL Rule Book defines a catch:

A forward pass is complete (by the offense) or intercepted (by the defense) if a player, who is inbounds:

(a) secures control of the ball in his hands or arms prior to the ball touching the ground; and
(b) touches the ground inbounds with both feet or with any part of his body other than his hands; and
(c) maintains control of the ball long enough, after (a) and (b) have been fulfilled, to enable him to perform 
any act common to the game (i.e., maintaining control long enough to pitch it, pass it, advance with it, or avoid or ward off an opponent, etc.).

When a player (or players) is going to the ground in the attempt to catch a pass, Rule 8, Section 1, Article 3, Item 1 states:

Player Going to the Ground. If a player goes to the ground in the act of catching a pass (with or without contact by an opponent), he must maintain control of the ball throughout the process of contacting the ground, whether in the field of play or the end zone. If he loses control of the ball, and the ball touches the ground before he regains control, the pass is incomplete. If he regains control prior to the ball touching the ground, the pass is complete.

Rule 8, Section 1, Article 3, Item 5 states:

Simultaneous Catch. If a pass is caught simultaneously by two eligible opponents, and both players retain it, the ball belongs to the passers. It is not a simultaneous catch if a player gains control first and an opponent subsequently gains joint control. If the ball is muffed after simultaneous touching by two such players, all the players of the passing team become eligible to catch the loose ball."

M.D. Jennings clearly has sole possession of the ball.

    First of all, how can the NFL support this call?! No indisputable visual evidence existed to overturn the call on the field? Are you kidding me? Is this a joke? When you slow down the replay M.D. Jennings can CLEARLY be seen jumping over everyone and catching the ball. He can also be seen with sole possession of the ball when he comes down! All Golden Tate does is reach one arm over and try to wrestle the ball out. Tate never had possession of the football. NEVER. If you re-read Rule 8, Section 1, Article 3, Item 5 it says that if a player gains control of the ball first and then another player ends up with joint control that it is not a simultaneous catch. I repeat, NOT a simultaneous catch. This means the correct call is absolutely an interception, not a touchdown, since Jennings has control FIRST and Tate just merely attempts (and fails) to gain the aforementioned joint control afterward. How the NFL can agree with the officials' call is beyond me. It's seriously concerning too, that the NFL won't admit that this was the wrong call. They did admit that there should have been offensive pass interference called, but that's as far as it went.
    This play should be the tipping point. It's gone too far now. I personally can't believe that the owners have let it get to this point. This is the second Monday night game in a row that the replacement refs have been bad - this time especially. The good news at this point is as I'm writing this I've read that the NFL and the referees have resumed talks again. Let's hope they can finally get things settled. This wrong call cost people their fantasy match-ups and lost people money on bets. More importantly, this game stands in the books. It's officially a loss for the Packers, and a win for the Seahawks. Will this end up having playoff implications later this season? It very well could. If both these teams are competing for a Wild Card spot and have the same record, the tie breaker would go to Seattle because of this call (cue the mobs of angry protesting fans).
    I'm crossing my fingers that the refs and owners can settle things now. The NFL flirted with the edge of the cliff on this issue for a few weeks, but now they've finally fallen off. This is completely unacceptable. There's no way the owners can look at last nights game and think that everything is still okay with their product. The integrity of the game has been thrown out of the window. Protect the shield? The shield is tarnished. Many fans have had it, many have lost respect for the game. Many are saying that they won't watch the games anymore. Myself? I don't think I could not watch football, although I definitely am sick and tired of seeing these refs impact games and now wrongly decide the outcome of one. When you have this many people criticizing and talking about the officiating, from fans to players to former players to hall of famers to analysts - even the president, it is not good for the league. The Inaccurate Reception, the Fail Mary, whatever you want to name this play, its a PR mess. I hope the owners can come to their senses, and finally realize this needs to be corrected. Sooner than later.