Rams coach Jeff Fisher says the NFL privately has conceded that the officials failed to penalize the Seahawks for slamming into Bradley Marquez after he called for a fair catch of the onside kick to start overtime during the Week One game in St. Louis. The NFL publicly isn’t conceding an error.
NFL V.P. of officiating Dean Blandino explained in a weekly video reviewing several calls from the past week that the call could have gone either way.
“Certainly, technically, by rule we could have had a flag down,” Blandino said. “But the rule states you cannot block or tackle the maker of a fair catch. And are these players blocking him, are they tackling him, or are they attempting to recover the loose ball? It’s close. . . . The officials did not feel that this warranted a flag. It’s close. Could understand why they made that decision. Certainly by rule, technically, there could have been a flag down.”
Blandino didn’t address the question of whether the officials received help from the replay assistant, the league office, or anyone else while sorting out the question of whether the ball struck the ground before the fair catch. But Blandino pointed out that, if the kickoff from the Seahawks had struck the ground first, the Rams would have still retained possession, subject to a five-yard penalty for an invalid fair catch.