‘Monday Night Football’ schedule and results: Seahawks win with controversial finish

Let’s not argue about whether this was the right call. The NFL’s vice president of officiating, Dean Blandino, very quickly admitted it was the wrong call:

He was backed up by a variety of rules experts, from ESPN’s Gerry Austin to FOX’s Mike Pereira, the latter of whom held Blandino’s post before him.

It wasn’t until walking out of the locker room and catching a suddenly heated debate on ESPN about Wright batting the ball out of the end zone that it became apparent there was some kind of controversy. After running back into the locker room and finding Wright, a small group of reporters asked whether he batted the ball out of bounds. He answered affirmatively without hesitation before elaborating on what was going through his head.

“As soon as Calvin went down, I saw the ball bouncing, bouncing, bouncing and I was running so I just tried to knock it out,” Wright said. “I wanted to just knock it out of bounds and not try to catch it and fumble it,” he continued. “I just tried to make a good play for my team.”

Dean Blandino, the head of officiating for the NFL, said game officials ruled incorrectly when they didn’t flag Seattle’s K.J. Wright for intentionally batting the ball out of the end zone, late in the game between Detroit and Seattle.

“K.J. Wright batted the football, that is a foul for an illegal bat,” Blandino said after the game.

Bennett even noted how rich Seattle owner Paul Allen is. That’s just a great teammate.

SB Nation presents: How the refs screwed the Lions against the Seahawks

Except, the ball should have gone back to the Lions, half the distance to the goal, first down. Here’s why.

However, the NFL has a clear rule about batting in the end zone. Rule 12.1.8:

Still, Wilson couldn’t make up for his offensive line’s struggles. Even with his pocket presence, he was sacked six times on the night. He also lost two fumbles, the second of which was returned for a touchdown in the fourth quarter to put the Lions within three points.

After that, the Seahawks just needed a first down to ice the game and stave off a potential backbreaking loss, which they did thanks to another big pass from Wilson.

Calvin Johnson appeared to have a go-ahead touchdown for Detroit with less than two minutes to go against the Seahawks ... but with less than a yard to go before paydirt, Kam Chancellor punched the ball free from Johnson:

The ball bounced out of the end zone for a touchback. As you can see, the ball was clearly out thanks to Chancellor’s punch:

Jon Gruden spends plenty of time during Monday Night Football discussing the actual football happening on the field. Occasionally, the conversation veers away from the field and Gruden is left describing things in ways only Gruden can.

Despite what that may look like, it is real and actually football related. That graphic was Gruden’s way of describing certain blitz concepts and how they are named.

It’s a talent Wilson has in spades and a move he routinely makes. Because of that, it takes a really spectacular play to even qualify as one of Wilson’s better scrambles. This qualified.

Doug Baldwin scored the first touchdown of Monday Night Football and he wanted to celebrate! The referee didn’t, really:

Lynch has just 38 carries for 128 yards this season, a per-carry average of 3.4 yards through three games of play.