GREEN BAY, Wisconsin: Entire stadiums have booed them. New England coach Bill Belichick grabbed one by the arm and Washington’s Kyle Shanahan was so hopping mad he followed one into the tunnel after a 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 US Even President Barack Obama, a Chicago Bears fan slogging through a re-election campaign, weighed in on 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 Green Bay Packers and their Cheesehead-wearing followers a win at Seattle?
The NFL stood fast, giving no sign on 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 Atlanta Falcons tight end Anthony Gonzalez, who tweeted: “How do you miss that? Pop Warner (kids league) 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 Arkansas, both acknowledged that they would probably be watching on Sunday when Green Bay hosts New Orleans.
“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, Green Bay.
The NFL acknowledged on 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.
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers 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.”
Oddsmakers said millions of dollars changed hands on the Green Bay result.
“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.