So the Lions got their hearts ripped out in the closing moments of Monday night’s matchup with the Seahawks, as Calvin Johnson had the ball smashed from his possession just as he was lunging for the end zone to take the lead. Kam Chancellor swoops in with an avenging fist from the holdout line and then KJ Wright bats the ball out of the back of the end zone.
The only problem is that the bat was apparently against the rules and shouldn’t have counted. Even Dean Blandino, the NFL’s head of officials, says the play was illegal:
Tirico just said they talked to Dean Blandino, who agreed it should've been an illegal bat and remained Lions ball.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) October 6, 2015
And as it turns out, the rules support this and the bat at the end of the play was illegal. That means the Lions would’ve gotten the ball back and another chance to score (or ruin the lives of Lions fans, you know it’s true).
Sure enough, the Lions got hosed. pic.twitter.com/sw4KIIg3CP
— Michael Hurley (@michaelFhurley) October 6, 2015
So what does this mean? Is this another tainted game for the Seahawks? Another embarrassing mistake for NFL officials? Another cruel trick by a mischievous God on Detroit? The worst part is that the ball didn’t even need to be batted to be knocked out of the end zone. It likely would’ve gone out naturally.
Clearly something otherworldly is at play here, most likely against the Lions. Maybe someone will get to the bottom of this:
@PFTCommenter have to wonder if maybe Belicheck has something to do with this one. Has his fingerprints all over it.
— PFT Commenter (@PFTCommenter) October 6, 2015
The underworld has the upper hand.
(Via Mike Garafolo / Michael F Hurley / PFT Commenter)
