It's like every other big business is becoming in this country. A processed, dishonest pile of manipulation designed to make a very small number of people extremely rich. Football isn't the priority.
This one was egregious. I was offended that they called that a successful 2point conversion, and I was rooting for Seattle. the ref was visibly giddy to be on national television making a call like that
But the call was right by rule. It was a backwards pass and the ruling is the ball is dead wherever it’s picked up, which happened to be in the EZ. It certainly was a freak play, but by rule the call was tight. I think if you’re interpreting the ref as “giddy” it’s because it was such a strange play, but the call was correct.
https://x.com/NFLonPrime/status/2001865624633401612?s=20 I went to bed. Is this the one you guys are talking about? That’s not a backwards pass at all.
yes that's it. Incomplete pass, whistle blown, guys walking off the field and the Seattle player just picks up the ball to hand it to the ref and miraculously he scored!
I don’t see how you can look at the overhead view and not realize the pass was backward. Ot left his hand right at the 4 yardline and hit the defender right at the 5 yard line. Even if it’s perfectly lateraled horizontally it’s still a fumble. The ball has to travel forward in the air, clearly it didn’t. It was a fumble, and by rule if the whistle blew the ruling is the ball is dead exactly where it is possessed if it is still moving, which happened to be Charbonet in the EZ. If Charbonet pucked it up at the 1 yard line and walked it in the call would have been dead at the 1 because you can’t advance the fumble when the whistle blows. It’s total freak play, but the correct call was made based on the rules and what happened. It sucks if you’re the Rams, but the right call was made.
The whistle was blown. They allow for fumble recoveries after blown whistles but only when it occurs at or closely after the whistle, not like this! That play was wayyy dead. Everyone was walking off the field, he wasn't recovering a fumble, he was simply picking up the football I think in general though it goes against the spirit of the game. They instituted replay review to get calls right in the moment. Not to award free 2 point conversions when neither team was arguing the original call. They went to review way after the teams were sending their kickoff teams out, Seattle wasn't even arguing that it was a miraculous conversion --- some grandstanding officials trying to get on TV and that's best case scenario. Worse case, its another example of gambling influence... I sure hope not
I don’t really see how that’s clear and obvious though especially given the call on the field. His right foot is at the 4 yard line and the ball might travel a foot “backwards” towards the 5 yard line. You might be right, it might be backwards but I tend to agree with Nagle. Charbonett was picking the ball up to bring their game ball back to the sideline, not score. It’s silly as hell looking. Kirk Herbstreit praising him for “hustling” only informs that the decision seems fixed. He’s become such a shill for the networks and the leagues he works for it’s hard to listen to any more.
Might travel a foot backwards is backwards. What undoubtedly clear is it did not travel forward. Even if it was perfectly sideways it’s a fumble, not a forward pass.
Spirit of the game, I fully agree. But it’s not a grandstanding official, it’s a review based on the rules of the game. Rules of the game are much different than spirit of the game. I’m sure it will be a part of offseason discussion now that a very obscure play revealed a moment that does challenge the spirit of the game, but at the time of the play the rules are clear. The reason Charbonet was credited with the score was because the ball was still moving when he picked it up. Had the ball come to a stop first then the ruling is it would be dead where it was fumbled. Very strange play, but very much by the rules.
Might travel a foot backwards is generally not overturned in the NFL if the ruling on the field is a forward pass. Emphasis on might. The Jets Tua play from a couple weeks ago is the perfect play to juxtapose against this. Except it wasn’t a high leverage (highly bet on) prime time game.
Next time anyone runs a 2 point conversion and they getting stopped, just fling the ball backwards. the "backwards pass" can be recovered for a conversion now. you got nothing to really lose going for 2
What's really fucking weird is that my online betting platform gave me a push... even though I took the Rams+1 with the over. Maybe they felt sorry for me since I've been on such a bad streak... Win - 2 Team Parlay / Odds +264 Total 12/18/25 Over 42.5 (-110 Los Angeles Rams @ Seattle Seahawks Point Spread 12/18/25 Los Angeles Rams +1.0 (-110) Point Spread / Push
