Revisiting the last time the NFL used replacement refs in 2012 amid concerns about potential lockout

Tate and Packers safety M.D. Jennings appeared to catch the ball simultaneously. Adding to the confusion, the officials appeared to give conflicting signals. Side judge Lance Easley ruled it a touchdown, while back judge Derrick Rhone-Dunn ruled it an interception. 

Easley, however, said they weren't contradictory. He said Rhone-Dunn was waving his arms over his head to signal the game was over.

"No, no, because if you have a touchdown or touchback, you don't go to a stop-clock signal," he told ESPN for a feature published in 2014. "You go directly to a signal."

Even so, he wasn't sure he made the correct call.

"I said, 'Oh God,' please, when I get over to that pile, let someone have clear possession of the ball," Easley said, per ESPN's Rob Demovsky. "I got over there and looked down, and it was like a meatball with spaghetti wrapped all around it. ...By rule, I got it right. By rule, there's nothing else I could do with it." 

The rulebook says if opposing players possess the ball simultaneously, it's awarded to the offense. But instant replay showed that Jennings appeared to touch the ball before Tate.

Citing the rulebook, Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio reported in September 2012 Jennings should've been granted possession of the ball since he caught it first. 

The NFL didn't admit that in a statement (h/t PFT). However, it acknowledged it missed an offensive pass interference call on Tate when he shoved Green Bay cornerback Sam Shields on the play. Despite that, the league upheld a 14-12 Seahawks win.

"We reject the league's statement as the predictable sort of wagon-circling in which the league has been engaged ever since it put third-rate-at-best officials into the costume and pawned them as sufficiently competent to rise to the challenge of officiating an NFL game," wrote Florio. 

Using replacement refs again could result in another controversial ending that damages the league's credibility. With that in mind, the NFL shouldn't focus on finding stand-in officials. It should prioritize reaching an agreement with the NFLRA.