Phil Luckett had a hand in Monday night’s debacle

Posted by Mike Florio on September 25, 2012, 6:32 PM EDT
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In nearly 11 years of this website’s existence, no game has created a stronger reaction than Monday night’s debacle in Seattle.

Coincidentally, the only other game that created similar buzz also involved the Seahawks.  It was Super Bowl XL, which left the Seahawks feeling chagrined by a string of questionable calls, prompting among other things the creation of officiating jerseys that weren’t black and white, but black and yellow.

But that game didn’t entail an error that directly and clearly determined the outcome.  Few NFL games turn on such a bright-line moment.  And one of the men involved in last night’s game had a direct hand (literally and figuratively) in a game-changing decision that involved, well, a piece of change.

Phil Luckett, the man who bungled the overtime coin toss in a Thanksgiving 1998 game between the Steelers and Lions, was the league supervisor in the replay booth for the game between the Packers and the Seahawks, according to Peter King of SI.com.  The Seahawks likewise know that name, because Luckett was the referee on the crew that incorrectly gave Jets quarterback Vinny Testaverde a game-winning touchdown against the Seahawks, not long after the Steelers-Lions morass.

As we explained several weeks ago, the NFL is using a league supervisor for every regular-season game officiated by replacements.  It’s a procedure that the league normally uses during the postseason.

The league supervisor now sits in the replay booth.  Which means that Luckett was change-purse deep in the decision to not overturn the ruling on the field of a touchdown.

As NBC officiating consultant Jim Daopoulos explained, both during Pro Football Talk on NBC Sports Network and PFT Live on the web, the league supervisor and the replay official — neither of whom are replacements — are directly involved in the replay decisions.  It’s a procedure that doesn’t apply under normal circumstances, with the regular officials on the field and the regular referee going under the hood.

Thus, for three of the most notorious game-deciding errors in recent NFL history, Luckett was involved.  That was bad luck for the Steelers in 1998, bad luck for the Seahawks later that year, but good luck for the Seahawks on Monday night.

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67 responses to “Phil Luckett had a hand in Monday night’s debacle”

  2. Sounds more like it was GOOD luck for the Seahawks Monday night. How is bogusly being awarded a game winning TD bad luck? I suppose it could give bad karma going forward but I highly doubt it

  7. As a solutions oriented person, I think the NFL should just pool all of the fines from players and coaches regarding the replacement officials, give that money to the locked out refs…I figure 1 more week and the gap will be closed!

  13. One thing that I think is being overlooked throughout this whole debacle is how much we are missing because we have to constantly be talking about the replacement refs. For instance, the news from last night should have been the suffocating Seahawks defense and success of Bruce Irvin, who many thought was the biggest reach of the first round in last years draft. We are missing out on so much great NFL news because we have to be talking about this ridiculousness, it really is a shame.

  14. Well as long as we are bringing up the famous overtime coin toss mistake, it’s key to point out here that this is a different situation where the rightful team got screwed unfairly as a result of the play on the field that they already performed well at.

    The coin toss problem wasn’t an issue of the referee picking a team he wanted to win, he just mistakenly heard what the call was and assigned the wrong label. But before we knew the result of the coin, both teams had a perfectly equal 50/50 chance and it doesn’t matter what mechanism you use to give each team identical fair odds to possess the ball.

    All the referee did in that game was change the mechnanism, but he did not interfere in the fair natural game of probability that they both had an identical shot of winning or losing at that also had nothing to do with playing peformance.

  15. Don’t forget Phil Luckett is the one that decided that a forward lateral was a legal pass in the Music City Mircale.

    By the way, that is the last game the Bills played in the playoffs.

  18. Forget about that damn coin flip!!! It’s still 50-50 regardless of what they called. The Steelers didn’t know which way it was going.

  19. Luckett has always been about as bad as the replacement refs. No mention here of some of his other blunders such as taking out a wide open Joe Horn of the Saints on a pass play. He was also involved in the Music City Miracle play (though later supposedly proven to be correct).

    I believe he is also the ONLY official that was moved from Referee back to a lesser position of Back Judge.

  20. As a Seagawks fan I never wanted to win that way. But don’t tell me that was the only call that had a direct impact on the game. That 3rd and 2 PI call on the Packers TD drive was pure BS

  21. Yeah alright now if only the seahawks go to the Super Bowl and win on a bunch of bs holding calls and a terrible pass interference call then we can officially call it even.

  22. the NFL is out of my life now screw them. they can go play on Whatever network they play NHL games on for all i care.

  23. The outcome was abysmal but what’s the difference if Luckett was in the booth or not. “Simultaneous catch” is unreviewable isn’t it? The proper handling of this situation would have been a meeting of the refs (and whoever else) before the td was called. This way, they could have discussed the rule and whether the catch was truly simultaneous within the meaning of the rule.

    Face it….the refs called TD for fear of their lives in that place. If the game were in GB, the call would have been an INT.

  26. The Drew Pearson catch , the Tuck rule , the immaculate reception , etc , did they ever ask the league to award them the game? Grow up , put on your big boy pants and get over it , after all is said and done after all the whining and temper tantrums and kicking and screaming and crying at the end of the day you still lost the game . Even when you got a bs PI call in your favor to extend the 3rd and 2 play for the only TD that your team could score and you STILL LOSE.

  27. Good info but… why was it “bad” luck for the Seahawks last night? Last sentence is confusing. I think it should say bad luck for the Packers…unless you’re talking about how everyone think GB should have won. They’re mad at replacement refs/NFL not Hawks.

  28. The original refs suck too, but this is more about consistency and actually knowing the rule book. Greedy owners should just meet the greedy officials financial demands but ONLY if the officials accept some form of accountability

  29. Everyone thinks that the NFL just doesn’t want to pay the refs more. That’s part of the answer, and so is their pension plan (which most companies did away with 20 years ago). But, part of the labor strife with the refs is that the NFL wants the ability to remove incompetent refs, and the NFLRA won’t accept that.

  30. I just got one question How does a guy who is the only Referee ever demoted back down to a line or field judge get promoted all the way up to a league supervisor? Oh wait nvm…. it’s the NFL

  31. You guys all act as if this is the 1st TD given to a team on sim poss. We have the Austin Cromartie catch when Austin was awarded a TD.

    Luckett did have have a say in the direct outcome of a game, which the Hawks missed the playoffs. When he called Vinnies helmet a TD, and the Hawks lost the game. The NFL did not cover it up, they apologized to Seattle the next day.

    Why can’t we get past all the crap and talk about the Hawks D? They stifled GB all of the 1st half, and part of the second. They bounced around Rodgers like a rag doll, except when they were being held, and no calls were made. Florio do some real writing and talk about that, and don’t make it sound like GB just played poorly, they got their behinds kicked.

    If you delete this post, please send me a reason why. It get’s old when there is no foul language, but the posts are deleted.

  32. Teams do not lose games because of a bad call by the refs.

    They lose them by not doing their jobs, for example Green Bay last night having 5 first half drives that ended in punts. Had their offense done their job they would have won regardless of this call, and Rodgers wouldn’t be whining like he is in the press.

  33. “In nearly 11 years of this website’s existence, no game has created a stronger reaction than Monday night’s debacle in Seattle.”

    False. I was here after the tuck game and it was easily 2x the hubbub.

  34. Bad calls to varying degrees cost the Packers, Patriots, Lions, and Saints games this week.

    But txxxchief thinks it’s okay because the other refs sometimes make bad calls too.

  36. Each week im told “every scoreing play is reviewed” In this case there was no scoreing play that happened. To the best that my 70″ tv can show me (and the replay comes evey 210 seconds) is that Tate has yet to get 2 hands on the ball … NO SCORE TO REVIEW, Just an old amature ref who thought he saw a score.. How is the NFL not reversing this and setting history straight. I dont have an intrest in either team, but I do have a problem rooting for a leage that will sell it’s integrety with us the fans/betting public, to win a labor dispute. My Sundays are now free to do other things. Maybe ill use this time to get to know my family again.

  38. So this basically just further supports the fact that we shouldn’t bring back the old refs. For all the complaints about bad calls throughout the game, and all the outcries, remember that you did the same thing last year and the years before but didnt have anything to blame it on other than refs and human judgement sucks.

    This call was on the booth. thats why replay was implemented, to correct what may have been called incorrectly during real time. get off the replacements they did their job.

    Luckett may have done it to make the replacements look bad to help out his buddies, or given his history he may be getting paid out for these ridiculous calls.

  39. This is probably worthy of it’s own story but Clay Mathews put Roger Goodells number on Facebook last night. Everyone I know called to complain, say hi, or order a pizza.

  40. How Phil Luckett still gets paid to have any say in any of this is a great example of why they need to get this ‘good ol boy’ NFLRA bunch out of here!

  41. The replacement refs are bad but so are the regular officials. The replacements are just under more scrutiny and who knows maybe the players are being harder on the replacements in support of their union brothers. Union supporting union isn’t that strange of a concept. Once they get more games under their belts the delays will be less and less and the regular officials will be thinking they should have taken their $8000 game checks and ran all the way to the bank.

  44. As a Packers’ fan, I am in some sense glad that we ended up on the side of the call that we did. Seattle’s record will be looked at dubiously throughout the year, especially if they squeeze into the playoffs with an 8-8 or 9-7 record. I’m glad that the Packers don’t have the stench of a fraudulent victory following them for the next 3 months.

  46. Sounds to me that the supervisors job is to prevent a riot. Home team will always get the call when alcohol money and emotions are all played out on national tv. Thank you roger and Vegas! This brand of football is awesome? … Right?

  47. Doesn’t anyone realize that if you take the “ill” out of Phil Luckett you get…

    Phuckett

  48. I said this last night that the play had to be reviewed and the review official isn’t a replacement, but everyone just wants to be the first to post stuff on their blog so things like facts go out the window.

    BUT here’s the great thing, if the guy isn’t part of a union you can FIRE him. If he is part of a different union and isn’t fired, then everything I’ve ever thought about unions has been verified.

  49. Man, people love harping on that PI call on the packers drive. Funny they never mention uneccessary roughness on dj smith when he got cheap shotted that kept the seahawks first td drive alive. Funny how they dont mention the totally bogus roughing the passer call on the interception by wilson.

    They dont mention that do they…

  50. Look Seattle. Boith defenses got hosed on MNF, but Seattle was pretty much given every call on the final drive. TWO INTS overturned or not call on bogus calls? HOw often does that happen? And the GB defense got just as bad a bogus penalty as the Seattle D .

    Seattle , stop the entitlement over SB XL. YOu lost by 11 points. There was not a single call in that game that approached the worst 5 calls in the MNF game this week. Except for the Hasselback 15 yarder, the others were borderline legit. It sucks for you that you got unlucky, but your team needs to make it closer than 11 points before whining.

  51. Those that keep saying that GB never should have been in that position, they should have done more etc.

    The rules don’t state you have to win by 14, they don’t state you need to dominate for 60 minutes, they don’t say it has to look good while you do it. All they state is that you have to have more points than the other team at the end of play. All you need is 1 more point than the other guy.

    Green Bay had more points than Seattle at the end of the game. They did everything they were supposed to do – until the very last play that erroneously gave Seattle points they DID NOT EARN. Not a play with 4 minutes left in the game, or the first 1/2 or in the middle of the 3rd quarter, but time was ZERO and there was only 2 possible outcomes. 1. Seattle scores and wins, 2. Seattle doesn’t score and GB retains the lead (was NOT tied) and wins the game as they had 1 more point than Seattle at the end of play. Seattle DID NOT SCORE. Even if they had – there was OPI on the play and it should have resulted in marking yards off and a re-do.

    Pictures conclusively show that 1. Tate had no possession in the air. (thus simultaneous possession never happened and possession is NOT awarded to the offense) 2. Tate committed pass interference prior to the pass arriving. 3 Tate did NOT have possession when the play went to the ground as required for all catches in the end zone.

    What people are saying is basically – the refs are so bad that a team needs to be up 30 to guarantee they’re not going to get robbed. It’s become college ball where you have to roll someone by a 50 burger so you don’t drop in the polls. It’s garbage.

  52. Jerry Markbreit was an NFL official for 33 years, the referee in eight conference championships and four Super Bowls.

    He never saw anything close to what he witnessed Monday night.

    Markbreit was at home outside of Chicago, watching Green Bay play at Seattle, and — like millions of other viewers — he was stunned by the officiating calls that were made, the ones that weren’t made, and the Seahawks’ game-winning Hail Mary that wasn’t a catch but an interception.

    Photos: Was it a touchdown or an interception?

    “I don’t like to see injustice at all,” Markbreit said by phone Tuesday morning. “And I think that injustice has been served on our officials. But this is injustice against a team that deserved to win this game, and it’s terrible. It makes you feel bad. It puts a stain on officiating everywhere.

    “The officials that work all the other sports look at this thing and say, ‘My gosh! How could the NFL put these inexperienced guys, to represent the officiating world, on the biggest stage they have? Shame on them.’”

    Markbreit, 77, who retired as a game official in 1999, has spent the past decade as an officiating trainer with the league. When the league locked out the officials in June, the trainers were told their services would not be needed either.

    Watching Monday’s game, Markbreit found it especially galling that, when the two officials in the end zone had opposite calls, one calling a touchback or time out and the other a touchdown, the referee didn’t step in get both zebras on the same page.

    “This is a routine play from our guys,” he said. “It’s a wonderful play, and it’s a great play to officiate, and it’s a great play to get correct.

    “The head referee should come down. Anytime you have a play where you have two decisions — one yes, one no — the referee comes down, ‘What’s going on guys?’ that’s negotiation. That’s what a referee does. He doesn’t just call fouls, he negotiates the game.”

  56. I hate the Pack and the Hawks equally, so I don’t have a dog in the fight, but after all the hubub, I have one question —

    How was that play NOT simultaneous possession?

    What is everyone screaming about? Both guys were ripping and clawing for the ball down to the ground, on the ground, throughout the whole process.

    I’ve seen simultaneous possession called many times in my 40 years of watching football, and it almost always looks EXACTLY like this one did. Why is everyone screaming about this one? Why is this NOT simultaneous possession? I don’t get it at all. The ball fell more into Jennings chest, and Tate was reaching for it, but as long as both have their hands wrapped around it, I thought it was simultaneous possession.

    And why would you call PI on a jump ball? Those guys are always pushing and shoving. That push has probably happened on every jump ball in NFL history.

    I just don’t get it. Is this just an example of CheesePack Nation extreme over-reaction as usual, or is there some angle I haven’t seen that explains all the screaming and gnashing??

  57. This is exactly what happened last September between Miles Austin and Antonio Cromarte – you can Youtube it. And Miles Austin was given possession, even though Cromarte appeared to get the ball into his hands first.

    I’m telling you, this is how simultaneous possession always works – it’s a very tough call, and the offense gets a lot of leeway.

  58. Just wanted to mention that Raider fans have been quiet during all this raucous over the replacements. We’re thrilled. It’s the first time in history that we’ve been able to watch fairly officiated games involving our team! Now the rest of you complainers know how Raider Nation feels every game of every year.

    I’ve been so used to it that I’ve become numb to the fact and accepted it as part of watching a Raider game. These last three games flag wise have been a whole new wonderful world

  60. Luckett was also the guy who got in Joe Horn’s way about 30 yards downfield way back in 2000 or 2001. There was no logical reason at all for him to be in that area and he made very little effort to get out of the way. That cost the Saints a touchdown and the game.

  61. sterlingrodgers says:Sep 25, 2012 7:42 PM

    As a Packers’ fan, I am in some sense glad that we ended up on the side of the call that we did. Seattle’s record will be looked at dubiously throughout the year, especially if they squeeze into the playoffs with an 8-8 or 9-7 record. I’m glad that the Packers don’t have the stench of a fraudulent victory following them for the next 3 months.

    ———————————

    Did you carry that stench during the off-season after winning the Super Bowl in 2011? I mean the victory over the Vikings that year was awarded to Green Bay not on one, but two incorrect touchdown calls by the regular refs. Without that fraudulent win the Packers don’t make the playoffs and cannot win the Super Bowl.

  64. I just don’t get it. Is this just an example of CheesePack Nation extreme over-reaction as usual, or is there some angle I haven’t seen that explains all the screaming and gnashing??

    Perhaps the part that you’re having difficulty grasping is that when one player has two arms wrapped around a ball that is clutched to their chest and the other has two extended arms wherein the hyands may or may no make contact with the ball – this situation would not be rationally considered simultaneous possession.

    It would be like saying a goalie stopped a puck that is in the net. Yes, he stopped the puck but he didnt save a goal. Tate touched the ball but he didnt have possession.

  65. mjhdmc says:
    Sep 25, 2012 6:50 PM
    As a Seagawks fan I never wanted to win that way. But don’t tell me that was the only call that had a direct impact on the game. That 3rd and 2 PI call on the Packers TD drive was pure BS

    _____________________________________
    Youe right. Lets see here…

    1. The blindside hit on Jenings
    2. The BS roughing call against Weldon
    3. The PI call against Shields where he as the defender was accosted
    4. The PI on the Fail Mary
    5. The botched INT on the Fail Mary

  66. andrewproughcfe says:
    Sep 25, 2012 10:28 PM
    I hate the Pack and the Hawks equally, so I don’t have a dog in the fight, but after all the hubub, I have one question —

    How was that play NOT simultaneous possession?

    What is everyone screaming about? Both guys were ripping and clawing for the ball down to the ground, on the ground, throughout the whole process.

    I’ve seen simultaneous possession called many times in my 40 years of watching football, and it almost always looks EXACTLY like this one did. Why is everyone screaming about this one? Why is this NOT simultaneous possession? I don’t get it at all. The ball fell more into Jennings chest, and Tate was reaching for it, but as long as both have their hands wrapped around it, I thought it was simultaneous possession.

    And why would you call PI on a jump ball? Those guys are always pushing and shoving. That push has probably happened on every jump ball in NFL history.

    I just don’t get it. Is this just an example of CheesePack Nation extreme over-reaction as usual, or is there some angle I haven’t seen that explains all the screaming and gnashing??

    _____________________________________

    Blind Moron look again, M.D. Jennings had the ball, Golden Taint comes down with 1 hand on the ball. After they come down, Golden Taint reached around Jennings and puts his other hand on the ball… NOT simultaneous possession

  67. pencilmonkeymagic says:
    Sep 26, 2012 2:54 AM
    So GB being robbed of a week 3 game is far more scandalous than Seattle being robbed of a Superbowl.

    Right.

    Got it.

    lol, you where not winning the SuperBowl and lose it on 1 play that should have never been called.
    you have no idea that you win that game with the calls correctly called. The Packers won that game!!!

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