Seahawks-Cowboys: As I Sea It
What happened on Thursday Night Football and what does it tell me about the Seahawks? 11/30/2023
There are no spoilers in the first couple lines of an instant Seahawks game recap because I know that not every subscriber has necessarily seen the outcome yet, but I can at least tell you one group of people who lost on Thursday: Football fans. All of us.
No matter which team you root for, you have to admit that the refs were an embarrassment to the NFL. If the league allows games like that to continue on their primetime stage on a regular basis, slowing down the action with ticky-tack penalties and procedural mistakes that make the NFL’s referees seem too amateur to have an impact on a professional sports game, then they won’t have as many people watching in the future.
I stopped regularly watching college football for similar reasons, but I always considered myself a pretty casual observer. I won’t stop watching the NFL because I’m not a casual observer, but I can’t speak for the millions with Amazon Prime who tuned in expecting to see the Seahawks play the Cowboys and instead got consistently interrupted by the refs. Yes, Seattle and Dallas are the two most-penalized teams in the NFL. That’s not what that was on Thursday.
How many times did they either pick up a flag or announce a decision, only to return and say that actually the team declined the penalty? What happened when they re-spotted Jason Myers’ field goal attempt and then moved the ball from the center to the right hash, causing a delay of game on Seattle? Why did it seem that the broadcast was in constant disagreement with the calls on the field?
Personally, here at Seaside Joe, I’m never going to stand for the excuse that the Seahawks lost a game because of the refs. To me, that’s just a lack of accountability that will constantly push blame on a third party that Seattle has no control over. The Seahawks had 10 penalties for 130 yards and the Cowboys had nine penalties for 127 yards.
The story of the refs on Thursday should not be sidetracked by “fairness” or “bias” because that just gives the NFL an excuse to ignore it again. “Oh, Seahawks fans are just mad because Seattle lost.”
Bullshit.
I’m mad that the Seahawks lost AND ON A COMPLETELY SEPARATE NOTE I’m frustrated that a league that takes in billions of dollars per year from fans can’t hire, properly train, and assist about 50 people in the entire world to be able to do these jobs well so that viewers aren’t subject to a broadcast that is 50% focused on the referees!
It was unfair to both teams. It was unfair to all of the players. It was unfair to all of the coaches. And it was unfair to the fans who have to pay for Amazon, for Sunday Ticket, for ESPN, for NFL Network, for cable, for tickets to the game, for all the one million ways it takes to watch football games in 2023, to have to stop the game every other minute in order to explain their latest flag…and I would say about 25% or more of those were wrong?
It was a complete joke and I wish all I had to do tonight was write about why I’m pissed off by the outcome of the game. I had myself convinced that even if the Seahawks lost a game that was competitive I’d still be happy and that’s what happened. The Cowboys beat the Seahawks 41-35, but at least we got to watch until the final minute with something on the line.
Instead, I don’t know what to think because the whole game should be flushed down the toilet. As Tom Brady recently said, the NFL has “mediocrized” itself with defensive penalties. This was the worst possible time for the league to prove him right on a nationally-televised game.
Thanks for trying, Seattle. Thanks for nothing, NFL.
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