The Seahawks are in the playoffs because they beat the Rams in Week 18 and the Packers lost to the Lions, but that might not have been the case without a few officiating calls that went Seattle’s way in the win.
A questionable running into the punter call on the Rams and no-calls for intentional grounding on Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith and taunting on Seahawks safety Quandre Diggs over the course of the game helped the Seahawks pull out a 19-16 overtime win. Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that “the Rams were upset by the officiating, the Lions were bothered by it and the Competition Committee was frustrated by it.”
Schefter also reports that a team executive not associated with either the Lions or the Rams said that there’s “a real groundswell of unhappiness with officiating that is much deeper than I’ve seen and frankly, I haven’t seen in this league in years.” Another source told Schefter that the league needs to do a better job of screening, hiring, and training officials in the wake of the game.
Any alterations to the officiating program would come in the offseason and it remains to be seen if the upset from last weekend will lead to a serious push for change in the coming months.