The San Francisco 49ers may have one heck of a bone to pick with the NFL about the incompetency of its officials.
With 2:45 left in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 20-17 Seattle Seahawks win, the 49ers were facing a fourth-and-6 from their own 42-yard line when line judge Kevin Cody made a questionable decision.
The Seahawks had just called a timeout on a Brock Purdy 5-yard completion to Juan Jennings on third down to stop the clock, and as San Francisco lined up to punt, Cody came running up and blew a whistle, seemingly awarding Seattle a second timeout.
The problem is, a team can’t call two timeouts in the same dead-ball period, which is exactly what the Seahawks got away with on Sunday.
Former VP of NFL Officiating Mike Pereira confirmed as much during a recent interview with KNBR in San Francisco, stating the Seahawks should have been penalized five yards for being allowed the second timeout.
“When it happened, I was kind of in the same mode — what did he do?” Pereira asked. “…It is clear that Seattle asked for a second timeout. What you are to do when a team asks for a timeout when they’re not entitled to it — either they’re out of timeouts or they ask for one in that same dead-ball period — what you do is ignore it.
“Now, it didn’t get ignored, it got granted. So what is the rule? Is it simply a do-over at that point because the official erroneously granted that? No, it is a 5-yard penalty even though the official shouldn’t have stopped it. When he does, it’s a 5-yard penalty — that’s a rule. To me, it’s kind of one of those unforgivables, and they recognized it.”
Had the 49ers had those extra five yards, they would’ve been looking at a fourth-and-1 from the Seattle 37-yard line, and Pereira believes there’s a good chance they would have gone for it on fourth down to put the game away instead of punting.
But SF kicked the ball back to Seattle, and the Seahawks drove 80 yards down the field on 11 plays to score the game-winning touchdown. The missed penalty could have cost the 49ers a win and a first-place tie with the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC West.
“If you’re going to officiate in the National Football League, then it is incumbent on the seven (officials) and replay that can get involved in penalty enforcements to at least [recognize that’s a penalty]. Somebody has to catch that. … [The missed penalty on the second timeout is] not one that the league can be very happy about.”
