Seahawks stun Packers on final play

SEATTLE — In a bizarre ending that capped a brutal weekend for replacement officials, the Seattle Seahawks somehow beat the Green Bay Packers 14-12 on Monday night in a game that’s certain to re-ignite frustrations over the locked-out refs.

Russell Wilson threw a disputed 24-yard touchdown pass to Golden Tate on the final play of the game, a game that finally ended 10 minutes later when both teams were brought back on the field for the extra point.

Wilson scrambled from the pocket and threw to the corner of the end zone as the clock expired. Tate shoved Green Bay’s Sam Shields out of the way, then wrestled with M.D. Jennings for possession. It was ruled on the field as a touchdown and after a lengthy review, referee Wayne Elliott came out from under the hood and announced “the ruling on the field stands” and CenturyLink Field erupted in celebration.

It was nearly 10 minutes before the teams were brought back for the extra point.

The final decision is only going to fuel debate about the replacement officials coming off a weekend filled with disputed calls.

“Don’t ask me a question about the officials,” Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy said. “I’ve never seen anything like that in all my years in football.

“I know it’s been a wild weekend in the NFL and I guess we’re part of it now.”

And the last game of the weekend will debated more than any other.

Seattle (2-1) won its second straight, while Green Bay (1-2) and saw its streak of wins in six straight road openers snapped.

Wilson’s heave came at the end of a final frantic drive after Seattle had previously missed on a fourth-down attempt from the Green Bay 7 with 2 minutes left. The turnover on downs appeared to end Seattle’s hopes and cap an impressive second-half comeback by the Packers and Aaron Rodgers, who was sacked eight times — all in the first half.

Green Bay averted disaster when John Kuhn fumbled on the Packers first play following the change of possession but center Jeff Saturday recovered. The Seahawks held and forced Green Bay to punt from the 4 with 57 seconds left. The 41-yard punt set Seattle up at the Green Bay 46 with 46 seconds remaining.

Wilson hit Sidney Rice for 22 yards on a slant then went for Tate in the end zone but the ball was batted away with 18 seconds left. He threw over the head of Evan Moore on second down leaving 12 seconds remaining and missed Tate again at the 5.

Wilson took the final snap with 8 seconds remaining. He appeared to be looking for Rice on the right side of the end zone, but rolled left and threw for Tate, who was in a crowd of three Packers defenders. His shove of Shields was obvious and it was never clear who had possession between Tate and Jennings.

Seattle instantly celebrated while the Packers argued with anyone in a striped shirt. Both teams were eventually shoved to the sidelines as Tate stomped through the end zone in celebration. Following the review, Elliott’s announcement sent the stadium into delirium and even more confusion ensued until the teams finally returned to the field for the extra point.

“From what I understood from the officials it was a simultaneous catch. Tie goes to the runner. Good call,” Seattle coach Pete Carroll said.

Rodgers had quite a different opinion.

“It was awful. Just look at the replay. And then the fact that it was reviewed, it was awful,” he said. “That’s all I’m going to say about it.

“We shouldn’t have been in that position.

It was Tate’s second touchdown of the game after catching a 41-yard TD in the second quarter to give Seattle a 7-0 lead. He finished with three catches for 68 yards, while Wilson was 10 of 21 for 130 yards.

The Packers’ frustration was almost instant. Guard T.J. Lang was even more emphatic, tweeting that the Packers were robbed “by the refs. Thanks NFL.”

Green Bay shook off a disastrous first half where Rodgers was sacked eight times and completely controlled possession in the final 30 minutes. Green Bay ran 41 offensive plays in the second half, got field goals of 29 and 40 yards from Mason Crosby and Cedric Benson’s 1-yard TD run with 8:44 left to take a 12-7 lead.

SEAHAWKS 14, PACKERS 12

Green Bay 0 0 6 6–12

Seattle 0 7 0 7–14

Second Quarter

Sea–Tate 41 pass from Wilson (Hauschka kick), 6:22. Drive: 5 plays, 73 yards, 3:02. Key Plays: Wilson 7 run on 3rd-and-4; Smith 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty. Seattle 7, Green Bay 0.

Third Quarter

GB–FG Crosby 29, 8:07. Drive: 13 plays, 70 yards, 6:53. Key Plays: Rodgers 5 pass to G.Jennings on 3rd-and-4; Wagner 15-yard roughing the passer penalty; Team 5-yard too many men on field penalty on 3rd-and-2. Seattle 7, Green Bay 3.

GB–FG Crosby 40, 1:14. Drive: 11 plays, 66 yards, 4:36. Key Plays: Rodgers 31 pass to Finley on 3rd-and-5; Browner 5-yard illegal use of hands penalty on 3rd-and-5. Seattle 7, Green Bay 6.

Fourth Quarter

GB–Benson 1 run (pass failed), 8:44. Drive: 16 plays, 81 yards, 6:02. Key Plays: Rodgers 13 pass to Finley on 3rd-and-10; Rodgers 13 pass to Ja.Jones on 3rd-and-10; Rodgers 11 pass to Finley; Chancellor 8-yard defensive pass interference penalty on 3rd-and-2; Rodgers 12 pass to Ja.Jones; Rodgers 10 pass to Kuhn; Rodgers 1 run on 3rd-and-1. Green Bay 12, Seattle 7.

Sea–Tate 24 pass from Wilson (Hauschka kick), :00. Drive: 6 plays, 46 yards, 0:46. Key Play: Wilson 22 pass to Rice. Seattle 14, Green Bay 12.

A–68,218.

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GB Sea

FIRST DOWNS 22 14

Rushing 6 6

Passing 11 4

Penalty 5 4

THIRD DOWN EFF 7-15 2-11

FOURTH DOWN EFF 0-0 2-3

TOTAL NET YARDS 268 238

Total Plays 68 51

Avg Gain 3.9 4.7

NET YARDS RUSHING 84 127

Rushes 21 29

Avg per rush 4.0 4.4

NET YARDS PASSING 184 111

Sacked-Yds lost 8-39 1-19

Gross-Yds passing 223 130

Completed-Att. 26-39 10-21

Had Intercepted 0 0

Yards-Pass Play 3.9 5.0

KICKOFFS-EndZone-TB 4-3-2 2-1-1

PUNTS-Avg. 6-44.5 6-51.5

Punts blocked 0 0

FGs-PATs blocked 0-0 0-0

TOTAL RETURN YARDAGE 35 47

Punt Returns 3-12 2-5

Kickoff Returns 1-23 2-42

Interceptions 0-0 0-0

PENALTIES-Yds 10-127 14-118

FUMBLES-Lost 2-0 0-0

TIME OF POSSESSION 33:39 26:21

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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING–Green Bay, Benson 17-45, Cobb 1-20, Rodgers 2-17, Kuhn 1-2. Seattle, Lynch 25-98, Wilson 3-18, Washington 1-11.

PASSING–Green Bay, Rodgers 26-39-0-223. Seattle, Wilson 10-21-0-130.

RECEIVING–Green Bay, G.Jennings 6-35, Ja.Jones 5-55, Finley 4-60, Benson 4-19, Kuhn 3-25, Nelson 2-19, D.Williams 1-11, Cobb 1-(minus 1). Seattle, Tate 3-68, Miller 2-12, Rice 1-22, Martin 1-10, McCoy 1-9, Obomanu 1-8, Lynch 1-1.

PUNT RETURNS–Green Bay, Cobb 3-12. Seattle, Washington 2-5.

KICKOFF RETURNS–Green Bay, Cobb 1-23. Seattle, Washington 2-42.

TACKLES-ASSISTS-SACKS–Green Bay, Hawk 5-6-0, Smith 3-2-0, Perry 3-1-1, Walden 2-3-0, Hayward 2-0-0, Pickett 1-8-0, Raji 1-2-0, Wilson 1-2-0, Woodson 1-2-0, T.Williams 1-1-0, Taylor 1-0-0, Matthews 0-3-0, Burnett 0-2-0, Shields 0-2-0, Bush 0-1-0, Francois 0-1-0, Merling 0-1-0, Moses 0-1-0, Saine 0-1-0, D.Williams 0-1-0. Seattle, Wright 9-2-0, Chancellor 7-3-0, Wagner 5-3-0, Clemons 4-0-4, Mebane 3-1-2, Hill 2-3-0, Sherman 2-2-0, Thomas 2-2-0, Browner 2-1-0, Bryant 2-1-0, McDonald 2-1-0, Trufant 2-1-0, Irvin 2-0-2, Johnson 1-1-0, Farwell 0-2-0, Hauschka 0-1-0, Lane 0-1-0, Maragos 0-1-0, Obomanu 0-1-0, Smith 0-1-0.

INTERCEPTIONS–None.

MISSED FIELD GOALS–None.

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OFFICIALS–Referee Wayne Elliott, Ump Marc Harrod, HL Mike Peek, LJ Tom Keeling, FJ Richard Simmons, SJ Lance Easley, BJ Derrick Rhone-Dunn, Replay Howard Slavin.

Time: 3:16.