Seahawks’ Bobby Wagner leaps Cardinals’ long-snapper, blocks FG
Oct 23, 2016, 6:37 PM | Updated: Oct 24, 2016, 12:40 pm
https://twitter.com/CauldronICYMI/status/790362301761134592
A 39-yard field goal attempt during a battle of field position seemed like very good outcome for the Arizona Cardinals in the first half of their Sunday Night Football game against the Seattle Seahawks.
Kicker Chandler Catanzaro didn’t have a chance.
This time, it wasn’t a bad snap or a bad hold that doomed the Cardinals’ chances at a score. Instead, it was Seattle’s Bobby Wagner who leapt over Arizona long-snapper Aaron Brewer to get both mitts on the field goal attempt. The Seahawks recovered, and the 0-0 deadlock remained.
It was, however, controversial.
Cardinals coach Bruce Arians was baffled by the call and even lost a timeout trying to throw a challenge flag for a non-reviewable call by the officials.
Wagner’s feet clipped Brewers back during the snap, but he cleared the long snapper otherwise. That, according to NFL senior vice president of officiating Dean Blandino, is not against the rules.
In #SEAvsAZ you have to land on the player for it to be a foul. The block was legal.
— Dean Blandino (@DeanBlandino) October 24, 2016
It is illegal to jump or stand on a teammate or opponent to block a kick. It’s also illegal to leap and then land on other players, “unless the leaping player was originally lined up within one yard of the line of scrimmage when the ball was snapped,” according to Rule 12, Section 3, Article 1 (S) of the NFL rulebook.
After the game, Arians’ remained displeased with the non-call.
“He touched him,” the coach said of Wagner. “You saw it. Did you see it? Didn’t he touch him? Yeah, he sure did. It sure looked like it to me, but it was not ruled that way, same with the last one (overtime miss).
“He definitely touched him. I’m sure I’ll talk to the league and we’ll get some kind of explanation that is all [expletive], like normal.”
