football

Seattle beats Detroit 13-10 in wild, controversial finish - Kam Chancellor knocked the ball out of Calvin Johnson’s hands at the goal line and saved the Seattle Seahawks in a 13-10 win over the Detroit Lions on Monday Night Football.

But there was controversy on the play when the Seahawks’ K. J. Wright appeared to bat the loose ball out of the back of the end zone for a touchback and Seattle’s ball on the 20 yard line.

NFL VP of Officiating Dean Blandino told the NFL Network that Wright should have been flagged for an illegal bat, which would have given the ball back to Detroit with a first down inside the Seattle one-yard line.

“The back judge was on the play and in his judgment he didn’t feel it was an overt act so he didn’t throw the flag,” said Blandino. “In looking at the replays it looked like a bat so the enforcement would be basically we would go back to the spot of the fumble and Detroit would keep the football.”

The late-game dramatics occurred with just under two minutes remaining. Detroit drove 91 yards and appeared to be scoring the go-ahead touchdown when Chancellor made his huge play.

Wright said he was unaware of the batting rule and was purposely guiding the ball out of the end zone.

“That was definitely the thought process just to get the ball out of bounds and not try to catch it and fumble it and hit my foot and the Lions recover it,” Wright said.

The controversial play occurred in the same end zone as another memorable Monday Night Football controversy three years ago in Seattle, and once again the Seahawks benefited from a referee’s call. In that game Seattle’s Golden Tate was awarded a touchdown by replacement referees on a Hail Mary play that beat Green Bay.

It was incredible that Detroit had any chance to win the game at the end. Seattle’s defense dominated all night, and the Seahawks held a 13-3 lead with under nine minutes to play.

But Seattle’s offensive line was dismal, and the Lions harassed Seahawk quarterback Russell Wilson all night. He made numerous escapes from virtually unblocked rushers, but fumbled with under nine minutes left, and the Detroit defense scooped up the ball and went 27 yards for the score.

Detroit got the ball again on their own nine-yard line with 6:23 remaining.

The Lions moved all the way to the Seattle 11-yard line with two minutes left. On a third-and-one, quarterback Matthew Stafford threw to Calvin Johnson who caught the ball at the eight-yard line and appeared to be headed into the end zone.

As Earl Thomas attempted to tackle Johnson, Chancellor knocked the ball out of his hands inches from the goal line. The ball looked to be bouncing out the back end zone when Wright, instead of grabbing or falling on the ball, gave it a bat and it landed out of bounds.

Seattle took over at their 20, and on third down Wilson completed a 50-yard pass to Jermaine Kearse, which effectively ended the game as Seattle was able to then run out the clock.

The Seahawks improved to 2-2, while the Lions fell to 0-4 on the season.

Seattle defeats Chicago 26-0 for 1st win - The Seattle Seahawks got their first win of the NFL season by blanking the Chicago Bears 26-0 on Sunday afternoon at CenturyLink Field in Seattle, Washington.

Leading just 6-0 at the half, Seattle’s Tyler Lockett gave the team a spark by returning the second-half kickoff 105 yards for a touchdown, and they never looked back.

When quarterback Russell Wilson threw a 30-yard TD pass to Jimmy Graham later in the third quarter the rout was on.

The Seahawks’ defense was dominate with the return of safety Kam Chancellor, forcing the Bears to punt on all 10 possessions. It was the first time since 2002 that Chicago was shut out in a game.

The Bears drove into Seattle territory just once all day, and ran only three plays on that half of the field.

Wilson finished 20 of 30 for 235 passing yards and one touchdown. Graham had seven catches for 83 yards.

Seattle running back Marshawn Lynch left at halftime with a hamstring injury, finishing with 14 yards on five carries. He was questionable before the game with a calf injury.

Lynch was replaced by undrafted rookie Thomas Rawls, who looked good gaining 104 yards in the game, most of it in the second half.

In the first half the Seahawks ran a trick play on special teams, a misdirected punt that the St. Louis Rams ran for a touchdown against Seattle last year. It worked against the Bears too.

With Lockett used as the decoy near the Chicago sideline, drawing the Bears’ coverage team to him, cornerback Richard Sherman caught the punt on the Seahawks sideline and returned it 64 yards.

After the game, Sherman said, “I think they trusted by ability and my savvy to go out there and execute it during the game.” The play set up the first of Steven Hauschka’s four field goals.

Chicago started Jimmy Clausen at quarterback instead of Jay Cutler. He completed 9 of 17 passes for 63 yards.

The Chicago offense managed just 146 total yards for the game, with only 37 coming in the second half.

The Seattle crowd actually booed their team’s poor first-half offensive performance, but Lockett’s TD return to open the second half ignited the team and the crowd.

It was Seattle’s first home game of the season after opening with tough losses at St. Louis and Green Bay. Chicago fell to 0-3.