The Seattle Seahawks suffered their worst loss of the young season on Sunday, and the icing on a rather sour cake came via New York blocking the game-tying field goal attempt. Instead of potentially making it a 23-23 game with a minute left to play, the Giants recovered the blocked kick and returned it 60 yards for a touchdown to seal their road victory.
Linebacker Isaiah Simmons blocked the kick by leaping over long-snapper Chris Stoll, who was pushed down on the play. Some fans online were quick to wonder if New York got away with a controversial non-call. Afterall, it would not be out of the ordinary for the Seahawks to fall victim to one-sided officiating. Besides, the league made leaping over the line illegal in 2017… something many considered to be in direct response to Kam Chancellor and Bobby Wagner’s successful attempts.
Turns out the key here is leverage and contact with the long-snapper. Per pool reporter Brady Henderson of ESPN, NFL Officiating Rules Analyst Walt Anderson (via a league spokesperson) gave a detailed explanation, which can be read below.
On Isaiah Simmons (No. 19) jumping over the line, Anderson confirmed via the spokesperson that Gene Steratore’s explanation on the broadcast was correct, saying there was no foul because Simmons was on the line of scrimmage and did not use anyone as leverage.
On the matter of Rakeem Nunez-Roches (93) pushing down on long-snapper Chris Stoll (41), Anderson said via the spokesperson that “pushing down alone is not a foul and there was no forcible contact to the head and neck.”
Neither aspect of the play is reviewable even though it’s a scoring play, per Anderson via the spokesperson.
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