The Seattle Seahawks are in a dogfight with the Detroit Lions on Sunday and a fourth quarter call nearly screwed them out of a scoring opportunity. Head coach Pete Carroll flipped out about it, and while Geno Smith yelled at the referee, he stopped his penalty announcement to say, "I'm talking to America here."
So here's the play that was called intentional grounding. Smith faced no pressure and this appears to be just a miscommunication with his receiver on route depth:
Smith couldn't believe he was called for grounding and yelled at the official as he was announcing the call to the crowd. The official stopped announcing it -- with his mic still on -- to remind Smith he was talking to the lovely people at home. Meanwhile, Carroll absolutely lost it on the officiating crew.
Watch:
That's a hilarious line by the official and, frankly, Joe Biden should use it in his next speech.
Carroll and Smith had every right to be upset. The call came on first-and-10 at Detroit's 17-yard line while the Seahawks traield 21-17. It pushed them back to second-and-20 from the 27. In the end, they wound up getting into the end zone to take a 24-21 lead, but that could have been a devastating call.
The NFL will likely admit a mistake on this one.
This article was originally published on thebiglead as Pete Carroll Freaks Out While Referee Tells Geno Smith He's 'Talking to America'.
