Seattle Seahawks vs Green Bay Packers Game

Monday September 24, 2012

After many months begging, Joe bought us tickets to the Packers Monday Night Football game at CenturyLink Field. 

So happy with these seats, about 20 rows up from the endzone. 

I enjoyed watching Clay Matthews warm up before the game, making cool catches along the goal line right in front of us. 

Quarterback Matt Flynn spent his first 4 seasons playing backup for the Green Bay Packers and expected to be the starter for the Seattle Seahawks this season, until rookie quarterback Russell Wilson came into the picture. Joe in the spring said that if Russell got the starting position, he’d buy tickets to the Packers game. I think Joe said it best on what it was like to watch Russell, “Love that Wilson, damn that Wilson.”

CenturyLink Field is amazing. They all talk about it being so loud. It was so bad I got a headache. The buzzer noise played in between plays since makes my head throb still when I hear it through the TV. It’s obvious that the 12^th man really does exist and why there are so many false starts in this stadium.

The offensive line was dreadful in the first half. Aaron Rodgers was sacked 8 times! Yes 8 times in 1 half!

The much disputed controversial touchdown call on Monday Night Football will live in infamy and we were there to witness it.

Russell Wilson’s Hail Mary pass on the last play of the game with 8 seconds on the clock should have been ruled an interception by Packers safety M.D. Jennings. The replacement officials called it a simultaneous catch which gives the offensive wide receiver Golden Tate the possession of the ball. The pass was in the far opposite end zone so we couldn’t see the outcome of the play very well. We just knew that the review of the ‘touchdown’ play was not going to be pretty. If it was overturned, we wanted to get the hell out of dodge before the riot broke out. If it wasn’t overturned, I didn’t want to wait forever and a day to get on a bus home. We did not stick around for the players to be escorted back out onto the field to kick the extra point 10 minutes after going into their locker rooms.

I actually wasn’t that angry about the game on the way home. Yeah it sucked listened to Seahawks fans chant the whole bus ride home. If we were going to lose a game I’d rather it be on a miraculous play by Russell Wilson. I purposely did not watch the replays or anything that night and went straight to bed.

It was on my bus ride into work this morning that I finally saw the play. I was fuming. My rage wasn’t against the replacement refs. They are doing the best they can do to their ability to call a game far above their normal caliber. I know how hard that job is. I used to ref intramural sports in college and that was not fun making controversial calls like that. Who I am mad at is the NFL. They tout about taking care of the players and the quality of the game but they are allowing the players to take advantage of the situation and treat the misplacements like substitute teachers. Thanks to this Wisconsin State Senator Jon Erpenbach, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s phone was probably now ringing off the hook. 

I credit all the Packer players for handling this upset the way they did. T.J. Lang gets mad props for tweeting "fine me and use the money to pay the regular refs" but Aaron Rodgers knew “We shouldn’t have been in that position.” If the team had done their job earlier in the game it wouldn’t have come down to the final play of the game to go in the Seahawks favor.

The NFL may not say that this specific game had anything to do with settling the lockout, but the refs seemed to get their way in the settlement. I’m just happy to see them back again. I would hate to see another team get robbed like the Packers did.  

This pretty much sums it up for me.