We have no word from Seattle Seahawks linebacker Darrell Taylor on what exactly happened on this play from Sunday’s overtime loss to the Las Vegas Raiders.
But here’s what we do know: He should be happy referees and replay officials didn’t catch it at the time.
Derek Carr threw an interception to Quandre Diggs, and as some eagle-eyed folks on Twitter noted, you can see a 12th man (yes, many Seahawks 12th man jokes were made) come on the field and inexplicably start blocking.
That was Taylor! And the only explanation everyone — including Pro Football Talk’s Michael David Smith — could come up with was that he was running on the field to celebrate and realized the play was still live.
Oops!
After Derek Carr's first Interception, a 12th player from the Seahawks bench ran onto the field and started blocking 😂 pic.twitter.com/x4CDDSfdlI
— Sanjit T. (@Sanjit__T) November 28, 2022
#Seahawks player Darrell Taylor came off the sidelines during live play and started to block #Raiders players following a turnover. (@Sanjit__T)
Never seen something like this in my life.pic.twitter.com/jaTvxVeCkp
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) November 28, 2022
As Smith noted:
Obviously, that’s a penalty, but the officials didn’t notice and didn’t throw a flag. The replay official also should have noticed but didn’t — all turnover plays are supposed to be automatically reviewed, and 12 players on the field is a reviewable penalty, whether it’s called on the field or not. The Raiders could not have challenged the play because it was a turnover; the replay could only come from upstairs.
It worked out for Taylor and the Seahawks!
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