You can tell the NFL has a problem on its hands when even the recipients of bad calls admits he got away with one.
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll pointed out after his team won because of an illegally batted K.J. Wright ball, that the Lions wouldn’t have automatically scored. True, but they’d have trailed 13-10 with the ball at the 1 and 1:45 left, and they don’t employ Josh Scobee, so the chances at overtime at least were solid.
“Now that you look at it we are fortunate,” Carroll said, via Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times. “It’s unfortunate the officials didn’t know how to do it, for their sake. It’s just the way it goes sometimes that plays happen and calls get made and we live with it and do the best we can.”
Carroll also tried to stem the tide of controversy, by pulling Wright away from reporters to explain the rule to him, before he could speak. Even as he did so, teammate Michael Bennett yelled “Smart-ass play, K.J.,” proving that Wright wasn’t the only one who didn’t know the rule.
’“I’ve got to just catch the ball next time instead of illegally batting it,” he said. “I didn’t want to try and catch it and fumble it.”
No, that was the NFL.