The Los Angeles Rams won’t blame the officials for their loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday. They shouldn’t. But there’s no doubt there were some questionable calls made against the Rams in their 19-16 overtime loss to Seattle.
Buy Rams TicketsThey were all penalties the Rams could’ve overcome by making plays afterwards, but the officials did Los Angeles no favors whatsoever in this game. Specifically, there were three penalties that benefited the Seahawks in their 19-16 overtime win over the Rams, all of which happened in the fourth quarter or OT.
First, there was the running into the kicker penalty called on Jonah Williams, which gave the Seahawks a free first down on fourth-and-3 with 8:47 left in the game. The Rams led 16-13 at the time and were getting the ball back with a chance to increase their lead, but the penalty extended the drive for Seattle. Six minutes later, the Seahawks made a game-tying field goal to send the game to overtime.
The problem with the penalty is it shouldn’t have been called. Williams was pretty clearly shoved into the punter by a Seahawks player, which should have caused the flag to be picked up after it was thrown.
Another miss by the officials was the unnecessary roughness penalty on Jalen Ramsey for his “hit” on Geno Smith along the sideline. Smith ran directly into Ramsey, who was simply standing his ground.
Furthermore, DK Metcalf could be seen sticking his fingers in Ramsey’s facemask, which could’ve been called a penalty, too. Instead, it gave the Seahawks a free 15 yards and gave them a chance to win the game in regulation, but Jason Myers missed the field goal attempt that would’ve ended it.
Geno smith literally runs into jalen Ramsey and gets a roughing the passer call and the lions won’t make the playoffs off this lmaoo pic.twitter.com/vsYvibqZtU
— John (@iam_johnw) January 9, 2023
In overtime, Quandre Diggs picked off Baker Mayfield and as he was going to the sideline, he held the ball out and taunted his former teammate, Bobby Wagner, who was off the field and not part of the play.
It very easily could’ve been called taunting, which the broadcast booth agreed with, but no flag was thrown on the play. Had Diggs been penalized, it would’ve set the Seahawks back 15 yards and made their game-winning drive much tougher.
THAT'S OUR BALL! THANK YOU NINO!
📺 FOX pic.twitter.com/SoiaNQHqe2
— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) January 9, 2023
You could also argue that Smith should’ve been called for intentional grounding on the Seahawks’ opening drive of overtime after Bobby Wagner pressured him and he threw the ball away without escaping the pocket. That would’ve given the Rams some extra yardage on the ensuing drive, which ultimately may not have made a difference. But that’s not the point.
The penalties called in Sunday’s game greatly favored the Seahawks. They weren’t the reason the Rams lost, but they made it a much tougher game for them to win.
