The NFL is at its most fun when the games run afoul of the micromanaging rulebook intended to keep everything and everyone in check. What was already a fairly entertaining game—certainly by this year’s standards—between the Buffalo Bills and Seahawks in Seattle turned into a delightful clusterfuck at the end of the first half. The machinations of rules, when and how they are enforced by the human beings responsible for enforcing them, created a bizarre sequence that essentially robbed the Bills of three points, in a game they eventually lost by two field goals. If nothing else it was great theater, which is the best any sport can offer.
With three seconds left in the half, Dan Carpenter lined up for a 53 yard field goal. Richard Sherman tried to time his rush to the snap for an attempt at blocking it. He did not time it properly and was very obviously offside. Sherman didn’t hear the referees blow the whistle—referee Walt Anderson said they gave him the benefit of the doubt because of how loud it was—and continued on to block the kick, and then also ran into Carpenter. There was some talk about whether this was a cheap shot or whether it was intentional, but I think it’s fair to say Sherman’s momentum took him into Carpenter after blocking the kick. If anything he’s guilty of simply being reckless. What happened next could only be described as: The Best.
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After the collision, Carpenter writhed on the turf grabbing his knee and the Bills medical squad jumped out to take a look at him. Though he was likely embellishing just to draw what appeared to be an obvious penalty, the trainers had to check him out just in case. Several rules were at play here, but since the Bills had no timeouts left and because the penalty on the field was simply offsides, and not, say unnecessary roughness, Carpenter had to leave the field because the NFL doesn’t want guys taking dives at the end of halves in order to stop the clock.
It was such a disaster, many players on both teams thought it was the end of the half and began leaving the field, forcing Anderson to yell somewhat incredulously that the half wasn’t over yet. And yet it somehow got crazier.
The Bills actually lucked out here, crazy as it sounds, for two reasons. Since the play was called dead before the snap, they still had those three seconds left. They just needed a kicker. Ryan had LeSean McCoy take the snap and immediately spike the ball, so they could run the play, stop the clock, and get Carpenter back on the field for what would then be a 48-yard field goal. But the referees took forever to spot the ball, and stood over it until there was about 4 seconds on the playclock without refreshing it. The ball was eventually snapped and Carpenter made it, but it was wiped off by a delay of game penalty. After the game, Anderson admitted that they boned that one, but that did little for the Bills. Now kicking a 54-yard field goal, Carpenter missed and the half finally ended.
“If there was that little time left, then that’s probably a mistake on my part in not pumping the play clock back up. But I was not aware that it was that far into the play clock.”
I’m not sure how you can call a delay of game penalty four seconds after the ball was spotted and be unaware that it was that far into the play clock, but that’s a minor detail here.
Yes, Walt. It was that far into the clock. Image via ESPN.
No matter the letter of the law, and how the rules interact and supersede each other, everyone watching knows what the spirit of that final play should have been: a roughing penalty on Sherman, 15 yards for the Bills, and a likely chip shot field goal for Carpenter. But that’s not what happened because, based on the initial human error of not calling roughing, the NFL rules worked exactly how they were supposed to.
Regardless, the Bills went on to get within six, trailing 31-25, and had a chance to win at the end of the game. They got inside the Seattle 10 with just under a minute to play, but a third down sack forced a fourth and goal from the 15. Tyrod Taylor made a valiant effort but his pass fell incomplete and the game was over. But, if the Bills had that 48-yarder in the bag, they obviously would have kicked that chip shot from the 15-yard line to send the game to overtime. Anything can happen on a kick—obviously—so you can’t assume it would have happened, but this what makes the NFL great. This is what has been missing all year; that one inexplicable moment that ripples through the game and has everyone talking the next day.
Rex Ryan, who stood in front of the podium after the game in an admirable contained rage, called the whole affair “ridiculous” and said, “from an officiating standpoint, I think you can do a little better than that.” As far as entertainment value goes, though, it doesn’t get any better than that.
