OH GOD YES! It’s absolutely alright to talk about the officiating of this game and every other game dating back to the point in NFL history, when they appointed themselves as the Fox’s guarding the Hen House. It’s not only Alright, it’s absolutely necessary, if we ever hope to see change.
For those of you who prefer short to the point post, consider what you have read thus far as my conenced version just for you. For those who appreciate a well thought out and reasoned reply then feel free to read on. If you get bored the last sentencem, I get that too. I kept looking for a quick response to this post but most that read my post know that I've always maintained the importance for the Seahawk Game Plans to consider and allow for the influenced our NFL Officials may have in store for us from game to game. Sometmes they want us to win, sometimes they do not, and we need to be prepared for those games where they would rather we didn't' win, like this game against the 49ers.
The day the NFL ordained itself the Head Fox Guarding the Hen House, was the day that the NFL gave itself the keys to the candy store and unchallengeable ability to an almost insurmountable degree, to influence the outcome of every teams success or failure over the course of each season thereafter.
Why in God’s name the fans would stand still for this to occur, will forever baffle me. Consider that the NFL in and of itself has the most to win or lose in which teams are able to fill the seats in their home stadiums, which teams generate the largest slices of the pie for the NFL should they advance, and how far they should advance over the course of any given season, and which teams will generate the largest slice of the pie when they meet for the Super Bowl Championship Game each year.
Am I saying that the NFL and its interlinked network of Officials both on the field and officiating from the NFL Headquarters, overseeing, reviewing, and ruling over game altering penalties in each and every game played from the start to the end of every season, might take advantage of that ultimate authority that they have granted themselves?
Hell yes that is what I'm saying. There is an old truth, that money is the root of all evil, and if you want to uncover the truth about the prospects of corruption running rampant in the NFL by means of its officiating, it doesn’t';t take a Sherlock Holmes to track the courses of each season since the NFL made this back door power grab. Which teams were allowed to advance, which teams were denied, which teams found themselves in the play offs and ultimately which teams found themselves in the Super Bowls.
Even with all this power and influence at their fingertips, there are teams that have managed to overcome their best efforts to steer and influence the outcome in every instance. The NFL has progressively become more brazen in their efforts over the years, calling ghost penalties at critical game deciding moments, calling "Ticky Tack Penalties" as has become the catch or code word when they call penalties that are borderline at best, that they have not called on either team in the course of a game, or even worse when the do call it when the team that is intended to loose is about to defeat their opponents in spite of everything the officials have done to see it end otherwise.
Then there are the reviewable plays, where it appears to everyone in the world to be a game winning score, and is instead ruled otherwise, and in doing so ultimately denies that team the win they deserved to win if all was fair and equal.
Please hear me when I say that I'm not being HOMER, here, this corruption runs throughout the entire NFL, and affects teams and fans everywhere. As much as I've focused on how teams are hurt by this type of corruption, there is the other side of that same coin. A great number of teams are helped by this same sort of corruption. The Seahawks included. We get the Officials Favorite Son treatment in the games that they intended for us to win and even then sometimes our opponents are able to overcome all that influence and defeat us. There are also many instances in the Seahawks case when we also manage to overcome all the influences of the Officials, and come away with a win, where they had done everything they could to defeat us.
I do credit Russell Wilson and his incredible spirit and determination to overcome everything they throw in his path, and to never give up. I’m convinced that Russell is a major thorn in the side of the NFL Officials, and that he has repeatedly overcome their best efforts to deny the Seahawks a win, and has done so often enough to keep us in the running.,
In a few replies posters asked that some bits of evidence be presented to support his desire to cry fouls, in this last meeting specifically. Go back and review the very 1st kickoff to the 49ers where they returned it for a touchdown, the only time this season. You will see the commentators calling the game both say "this one is coming back" and provided freeze frames, highlighting 3 separate penalties committed by the 49ers, and all of which prevented a Seahawk player from stopping the return, between the 15 and 20 yard lines, I'll list them below. In all three instances there were a minimum of 2 if not 3 Officials with a direct line of view and not one of them even so much as motioned for a flag.
Because no Official threw a flag, no penalties occurred and then even though the play was mandatorily reviewed, they ruled it a touchdown anyway. Not because they didn't see all the pentacles that occurred during the play, but because no penalty had been called by an official on the field. Ask yourself why when the commentators and millions of others watching the play on their televisions saw the penalties that the Officials on the field did not so much as motion for a flag. Could it be because they were directed through their networked ear pieces that every Official wears, to turn a blind eye to any penalties that might have negated that play and score?
The Penalties that were circled on the freeze frames were:
1. A Wedge or Double Team block of a Seahawk Defender in pursuit of the return man.
2. Holding a Seahawk player with an arm around the chest and grasping the jersey with their hand.
3. Holding a Seahawk player and pushing him to the ground from behind, landing on top of him.
In all three instances the Seahawk players were in route to the return man and if not illegally blocked, would very likely have tackled or forced out of bounds the return man between the 15 and 20 yard line and in a game where all things were fair and equal, the penalties would have been called ad the most severe accepted, which at best would have put the 49ers back at their own 10 yard line, 1st and 20.
Much like the questionable penalty that was called on the Seahawks in Overtime, when Tyler came down with that pass that would have almost certainly given the Seahawks a VIN via a field goal. Instead well after Tyler’s catch was ruled good, out comes a holding flag, no replay was ever shown, and I don't recall any Seahawk player specifically being cited,, but that was the nail in the coffin for the Seahawks, who were put back at their 10 yard line, with too many yards to convert, and were forced to punt, leaving the 49ers almost in field goal range with 4 downs to go. .
Go Seahawks!
2019 Super Bowl LIII Champions!