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It took three weeks, but the NFL may have just lost whatever was left of its bargaining power in the prolonged referee holdout.
A controversial touchdown awarded to Golden Tate on a last second Hail Mary play gave the Seahawks a miracle win over the Packers, but all the post-game headlines have focussed on the poor refereeing decision.
The league has been without its regular referees all year as a pay dispute lingers. While mistakes have been made, nothing topped the circus that was witnessed on Monday night.
As time expired, Russell Wilson hurled the ball 40 yards to the end zone where M.D. Jennings appeared to have an interception for Green Bay.
One line judge signalled a pick, the other a touchdown for Tate.
After several minutes referring to the tape, the replacement referees awarded the score and the game was over, to the utter disbelief of Green Bay Head Coach Mike McCarthy and players – many of which turned to social media to vent their anger in the ensuing hours.
Talk of this incident will continue for days, if not weeks and may yet prove to be the catalyst for the NFL to broker a deal with its regular referees.
Outside of Green Bay however, another team not thrilled with this outcome is New Orleans, which will make one of the toughest road trips in football to meet the fuming Packers at Lambeau Field. Pencil that in as a ‘must watch’ in week four.
Leading 24-6 in the third quarter against the also winless Kansas City Chiefs, the Saints crumpled. Jamaal Charles ran wild for 233 yards and the defence kept Drew Brees’ high-powered offence scoreless in the second half as Kansas prevailed 27-24 in overtime.
Remarkably by week three in a season of surprises, two pre-season Superbowl fancies in the Packers and Saints have already matched their 2011 season loss totals.
With just a treble of 3-0 teams left standing, Arizona is perhaps the most surprising. After accounting for the Seahawks and Patriots in the opening fortnight, the Cardinals thrashed the Eagles 27-6.
Michael Vick was hurried and hit with relentless regularity, before a fumble on the stroke of half time caused a likely 14-point turnaround as the Cards ran it back 93 yards for a touchdown.
The new Superbowl-favourite Houston Texans continue to impress as a hard-fought 31-25 victory at Denver propelled them to their third win, while the Atlanta Falcons improved to the same record with a 27-3 triumph at San Diego.
After dropping a bruising Sunday night encounter at Baltimore, the New England Patriots (1-2) fell below .500 for the first time since 2003. This is welcome news for the AFC East which is suddenly up for grabs with the resurgent Bills prevailing comfortably at winless Cleveland and the Jets saluting in overtime against Miami in an early contender for ugliest game of the season.
Although now leading the division, New York was crippled with news of a season-ending knee injury to star player and arguably the NFL’s best cornerback Darelle Ravis. The Jets will be sternly tested in coming weeks with clashes against San Francisco, Houston and New England on the cards.
On the other side of the Big Apple, the Giants continue to perplex fans and pundits alike.
After a disappointing season-opening loss and a forgettable first half against Tampa Bay (saved only by the brilliance of Eli Manning), the undermanned Giants went to Carolina and emerged with a 36-7 victory.
Still battered by injuries, the Superbowl champs can take a great deal of confidence from this win, and from the performance of third-string running back Andre Brown who rushed for 113 and a pair of touchdowns.
The wildest game of the week occurred at Tennessee where the Lions scored 14 points in the final 18 seconds of regulation, capped by a Hail Mary catch by Titus Young to force overtime.
However Detroit’s victory plans were scuppered with a gutsy (or insane, depending who you ask) play call on 4th and 1 deep in Titans’ territory. A touchdown would have won it while the chip shot field goal would have merely continued the action after Tennessee’s earlier score.
It’s decisions like that which make NFL one of the greatest and most tactical leagues on earth.
Jacksonville secured its first win of the season with a hard-fought 22-19 triumph at Indianapolis, despite the 313 yards thrown by number one draft pick Andrew Luck who is appearing to be everything we thought he’d be in his rookie year.
RGIII fever in the nation’s capital came back to earth with a thud despite a solid game from the other rookie quarterback making headlines. It was Andy Dalton’s 328 yards and three touchdown passes however that stole the points, and the limelight in Washington, as the Bengals prevailed 38-31.
In one of the shocks of the week, the upstart Vikings led all day against the 49ers. Christian Ponder threw for two touchdowns and ran a third in himself to shock San Francisco 24-13 which now faces the three New York teams in the next three weeks (Jets away followed by Bills and Giants at home).
While Minnesota is the surprise leader of the NFL North, Chicago moved into second place with a 23-6 win over St Louis. Michael Bush scored the only offensive touchdown of the day in a game dominated by defence, special teams and kickers, who accounted for 17 of the game’s 29 points.
In Dallas, the Cowboys started their season a home with an ugly but hard-fought 16-10 win over the Buccaneers. Just 463 net yards, one touchdown, 12 punts and five turnovers combined didn’t make it one for the ages, but it won’t matter for Dallas who moves to the head of the NFC East.
Oakland’s lacklustre start to the year continued at the hands of Pittsburgh, inspired by a renaissance 384-yard, four touchdown game by Ben Roethlisberger. Both teams now sit at 1-2, but Steelers fans are likely to be far more optimistic at their prospects compared to the Raiders who have looked dismal in their two losses to date.
WEEK 3 AT A GLANCE:
Most impressive team performance: It’s hard to split the Arizona Cardinals and the Seattle Seahawks who proved that defence wins football games (and in the case of the latter, a perplexing refereeing call). The Cardinals sacked Vick five times, which not only negated his flow, but caused a game-defining turnover just prior to half time.
The Seahawks meanwhile got to NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers seven times in the first half (eight overall). Despite the late game controversy, Seattle kept it close all night by virtue of their smothering defence.
Most impressive individual performance: Jamaal Charles almost single-handedly destroyed New Orleans with 233 yards, including a team record 91-yard bust, however the Chiefs’ victory couldn’t have occurred without the boot of Ryan Succop. While Charles certainly comes out on top, Succop’s 6/6 day (including clutch game-tying and game-winning field goals) helped Kansas to its first win of the season.
Team exceeding expectations: The 3-0 Arizona Cardinals have opened with wins over Seattle, New England and Philadelphia. Nobody saw that coming, even if they’ve played two of the three at home.
Team not reaching expectations: New Orleans Saints, without any shadow of a doubt. With each passing week, it’s looking less and less likely that this team will have the opportunity to compete for a Superbowl in its own backyard. At 0-3 with a trip to Green Bay on deck and the runaway Falcons dictating terms in the south, the Saints need to re-focus, and fast.
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