Howard Smith – US PRESSWIRE
To say NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is living a nightmare right now is an understatement.
Reports have emerged that referee Lance Easley – the one who signaled Golden Tate caught Russell Wilson’s Hail Mary touchdown pass in last night’s Monday Night football game – is a Seattle Seahawks fan.
It’s really difficult to believe Easley remained neutral when he made the call that gave the Seahawks the win over the Green Bay Packers, especially considering replays clearly showed that defensive back M.D. Jennings caught the ball. Tate also committed a flagrant pass interference penalty against Sam Shields that should have been enough to cause a penalty that ends the game and results in a Packers win.
And word has come out that Easley was not even skilled enough as a referee to referee Division I games, although apparently that wasn’t important to the NFL when Easley was given the opportunity to call a primetime game at pro football’s highest level.
Goodell and the NFL have publicly upheld the decision to give the Seahawks a win, even though they’ve acknowledged that Tate should have been flagged for pass interference. If they really believe Tate should have been flagged for pass interference though, that means the Seahawks lose and the Packers win.
So I guess Goodell and his crew admit that there was a mistake, but they’re just not willing to fix it. In all fairness though, changing the decision of a game the next day would not solve the problem. Can you imagine the outcry from Seahawks fans if they got home from the stadium and found out their win had been turned into a loss?
What needs to happen obviously is for Goodell to get on the phone with the referees and tell them to come back please. If he doesn’t, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some pretty serious stuff happening in NFL games along the lines of teams boycotting games.
