Seattle Seahawks fans have heard this one before. Incorrect calls by a referee crew led by Bill Leavy may have cost the Seahawks a chance at victory last week against the Kansas City Chiefs.
According to Jim Corbett of USA Today, NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino informed the Seahawks and head coach Pete Carroll that Leavy’s crew erred in rulings on two potential pass interference calls in Sunday’s 24-20 loss to the Chiefs.
The most glaring one was a fourth-and-goal from the Kansas City 2-yard line with 7:11 left to play. Baldwin ran a corner route from the left slot and was run into and bumped off his route by cornerback Sean Smith. Baldwin threw his hands up begging for a call that wouldn’t come.
Per Carroll, the league said a penalty should have been called on the play.
“The interpretation was it definitely played a factor in (Baldwin’s) route and it should have been called,” Carroll said. “There’s nothing you can do about it. You just have to live with it. That’s just part of the game.”
So instead of a first-and-goal opportunity from the 1-yard line while trailing by four, the Seahawks turned the ball over on downs and were never able to score the touchdown needed to overcome the deficit.
A win over Kansas City would have kept Seattle two games behind the division leading Arizona Cardinals with both matchups against the Cardinals still yet to play. Instead, the Seahawks are now three games back and have little margin for error in their efforts to return to the postseason to defend last year’s Super Bowl title.
Leavy was the head referee for Super Bowl XL when the Seahawks lost 21-10 to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Leavy later admitted to reporters in Seattle on a training camp visit that his crew had made incorrect calls against the Seahawks in that game as well.
