Captain Tyler Lockett on the officiating in Seahawks’ loss at Saints: ‘It was ridiculous’
Tyler Lockett told it like like many Seahawks fans seemed to see it.
They got jobbed.
“Man, it was so hard for us to even get a flag for us in that game. It was ridiculous,” the Seahawks’ captain said Sunday.
That was after his two touchdowns on passes from Geno Smith weren’t enough to keep Seattle from a galling, 39-32 loss to a depleted, predictable Saints team at the Superdome.
“But, I mean, you just have to keep on playing through it, keep on fighting through it,” Lockett said inside a quiet visiting locker room.
“I mean, for the Saints, they got all the calls. So they were lucky (in) this game. Just being able to get all the calls put us in some bad positions.”
For the season, the Seahawks have 15 more penalties called on them than do their opponents through five games; 44 accepted fouls for 391 lost yards for Seattle in all. More than eight flags a game is not a way to win, at any level of football.
Lockett has a solution: Take big enough leads so the referees don’t matter.
“For us, on our team, we do a really great job when we don’t put it in the refs’ hands,” Lockett said. “So we can’t put these games in the refs’ hands, especially when it’s away. We’ve just gotta be able to go play, and if we can run away with the game early then we prefer to do that.”
It would sure beat this:
Referee Brad Allen’s crew called 12 accepted penalties on the Seahawks (2-3), for 85 lost yards. That included a negated touchdown pass from Smith to DK Metcalf in the third quarter that would have put Seattle ahead 26-24.
The Saints (2-3) had six flags for 57 yards.
The sequence of officiating that angered the Seahawks the most came in the third quarter. Seattle linebacker Uchenna Nwosu held his arms in the air during a run around him and the left end by Alvin Kamara. Nwosu was trying to indicate to officials he was being held at the point of attack by a Saints offensive lineman. Officials did not throw a penalty flag. Nwosu continued to yell at Allen.
On the next play, New Orleans scored a touchdown to take a 24-19 lead.
Later in the quarter, Seahawks rookie left tackle Charles Cross had Saints linebacker Kaden Elliss blocked on the left edge. Smith scrambled outside them to his left then threw what appeared to be a 32-yard touchdown pass to Metcalf. Seattle thought it had re-taken the lead.
The official behind the throw toss a flag on Cross for holding. The tackle’s hands were inside the frame of his body, which usually is good enough for officials to not penalize. But Elliss threw both his arms into the air while Cross was blocking him, selling — hard —his allegation he was being held. It was similar to what Nwosu did before complaining to referee Allen to no result earlier in the quarter.
The officials bought what Elliss was selling. They flagged Cross. The Seahawks’ drive was ruined.
They punted instead of taking the lead. The Saints scored on the succeeding drive to push their lead to 31-19.
“There’s a classic situation, and it happens all the time, when the ball bounces outside or a scramble happens outside of guys (defensive) guys are starting to...and they are really flopping, like happens in basketball,” Seattle coach Pete Carroll said. “It makes it difficult on the officials.
“I don’t know exactly what happened. The officials saw something there, you know, so...
“It was a huge, huge call.”
Teaching those calls
Carroll said he and his assistants specifically coach Seattle’s linemen to let go when plays get outside them, before a defender can even do the hands-up trick Elliss did on the crucial penalty in Sunday’s game.
“They gave us a big presentation about that,” Carroll said of NFL officials during their annual visit to Seahawks training camp in Renton this summer. “But we didn’t buy into it, because we weren’t sure how it was going to get called.
“If he was pulling away, we’ve got to release. That’s what we need to do. I would really hope that we would all get on the same page with that. I’m not sure that we are.
“We were trying to release the guy. We were trying to let go.”
The Seahawks were also called again for what has become a weekly penalty for them: a defensive-holding penalty 50 yards away from a tackle on a short pass on the opposite side of the field. That happened to rookie cornerback Tariq Woolen. It was the sixth accepted penalty called against the fourth-round pick in five games. That extended a New Orleans drive in the fourth quarter, though the Saints did not score.
The Seahawks appeared to benefit from an official’s judgment to get a defensive stop in the fourth quarter. The Saints were lined up to go for it on fourth and 2 near midfield while leading 31-25. Seattle rookie linebacker Boye Mafe, who started Sunday for Darrell Taylor, charged into the edge of the neutral zone and stomped his foot in front of Saints tight end Juwan Johnson. That caused Johnson to flinch out of his stance.
Officials called a false start on Johnson. New Orleans then punted. Seattle rookie Ken Walker ran 69 yards two plays later for his first career touchdown and the Seahawks’ short-lived, 32-31 lead.
Woolen had his third interception in three games. He deftly broke harder than the receiver on a comeback route on the left sideline in the third quarter. That gave the Seahawks the ball at midfield, to start the series that included Cross’ iffy penalty.
Charles Cross, Abe Lucas shine again
Cross’ crushing penalty marred what was another strong game for him and fellow starting rookie offensive tackle Abe Lucas.
Smith was sacked three times in 28 drop backs, though one on a third down in the fourth quarter came because the quarterback held onto the ball for a long time, then spun in an attempt to find an open receiver. That was a 14-yard loss.
Cross buried his end pass rusher off the offense’s left edge on Seattle’s first offensive possession. That gave Smith time and space to step up into a pass and Metcalf the time to break his route off into the clear for a 50-yard touchdown.
This story was originally published October 9, 2022 at 4:46 PM.
