The Seattle Seahawks were on the wrong end of a bad intentional grounding call during their game against the Detroit Lions on Sunday, and head coach Pete Carroll was not happy.
The Seahawks were trailing 21-17 early in the fourth quarter and had the ball deep in Detroit territory. Geno Smith sailed a pass over Tyler Lockett’s head on first down after the two clearly were not on the same page. For some reason, Smith was flagged for intentional grounding.
Smith was not facing any pressure on the play. The incomplete pass was clearly a result of Lockett running a different route than the one Smith thought he was going to run. By rule, intentional grounding is when a player throws a pass “without a realistic chance of completion” while “facing an imminent loss of yardage because of pressure from the defense.” That clearly is not what happened.
Carroll was understandably irate. He went ballistic on an official.
The Seahawks scored later in the drive to take the lead, but Carroll had every right to be furious. The officials got that call wrong.
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