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Rams get a TD taken away by a controversial illegal man downfield call

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports
By Darryn Albert | Last updated Dec 18, 2025 10:01 PM ET

Puka Nacua is quickly getting something else to rage about.

The Los Angeles Rams were on the receiving end of a controversial call during their “Thursday Night Football” matchup against the Seattle Seahawks. In the first quarter at Lumen Field in Seattle, Wash., Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford fired a short touchdown pass to tight end Terrance Ferguson on a 4th-and-goal play from inside the Seahawks’ one-yard line.

However, the referees threw a flag on the play that nullified the touchdown. Rams guard Justin Dedich had blocked his assignment during the sequence and ended up a couple of yards deep into the end zone. As a result, Dedich was flagged for a five-yard illegal man downfield penalty (a.k.a ineligible receiver downfield), and the Rams had to settle for a field goal on the drive instead.

Even Amazon Prime rules analyst Terry McAulay did not agree with the call and said during the live broadcast that “this really isn’t a foul.” Here is the video.

A Rams touchdown was taken off the board due to officials calling a penalty for illegal man downfield on 4th-and-goal at the 1. They had to settle for a field goal.

Prime Video rules analyst Terry McAulay disagrees with the ruling: "This really isn't a foul." #NFL #TNF pic.twitter.com/gG0Sgr8zlh
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 19, 2025

According to the NFL rulebook, an offensive lineman may not go more than one yard past the line of scrimmage before a forward pass is thrown. However, an exception exists for if the offensive lineman maintains continous contact with an opponent throughout (e.g. while blocking).

Regardless of whether or not the call was correct, the Rams managed to shrug it off and took a 13-7 lead over the Seahawks into halftime. But after the Rams star receiver Nacua spoke out this week about supposedly fame-hungry referees making bad calls, the team quickly found themselves getting a touchdown negated by a controversial call during their game this week.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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