It’s a tough Tuesday for Packers fans, as they watched Green Bay lose 14-12 to the Seahawks on a Hail Mary pass last night in Seattle.
Replacement referees are getting the bulk of the blame for allegedly blowing a call that gave Golden Tate a touchdown at the end of regulation — when it appeared that Packers safety M.D. Jennings had intercepted the pass.
Today, the NFL weighed in on the call, saying Tate should have been called for offensive pass interference. And that’s it. No reversals. Final result stands.
Michael Rand of the Star Tribune, perhaps, got the scoop of the year when he called Casey Lewis for her reaction. You’ll recall Lewis made viral video headlines when she was caught crying on camera, blaming the Packer’s NFC playoff loss to the Giants on her sparkly nail polish. She says she was so upset last night that she “left a pitcher of beer at the bar.”
Reaction across the country? Almost complete condemnation of the substitute referees. As one columnist put it: “Hail Mary. Holy hell.”
Even Gov. Scott Walker was tweeting about it, noting that the game was topic No. 1 at a meeting with other governors.
Reaction in Green Bay? There was a small protest outside Lambeau Field this morning, with a Packer fan holding up a sign that declared, “We were robbed…”
Here’s a link to the video highlights of the game, via NFL.com.
Here’s what it looked like, at a Las Vegas sports book:
As for the money that changed hands last night, the sports book industry reportedly saw $150 million to $250 million going to those who bet on Seattle (who were 3 1/2 point underdogs) — at the last second. As NBC.com put it: “If you think Mike McCarthy is sore this morning, imagine if you went to sleep thinking you covered.”
