Hawks win replays, still can’t find victory

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren has gotten so frustrated with instant replay over the years that he’s openly wondered whether the technology is such a good idea for football.

Upon further review, it’s starting to win him over.

Holmgren was on the winning end of three replay calls on Sunday, all of which came at opportune times. While it wasn’t enough to lead the Seahawks to victory, it helped restore his faith in instant replay.

“I’m always surprised when we get one of those,” Holmgren said after the 35-28 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. “So it was nice.”

The red-flag day started late in the first half, after Seahawks receiver Deion Branch made a nice, one-handed catch before stepping out of bounds at the Kansas City 3-yard line. The Chiefs didn’t initially challenge the call, but coach Herm Edwards thought differently after seeing a replay on the overhead screen during a Seahawks timeout. Edwards sprinted 10 yards downfield and heaved the red flag that calls for an official replay just before Seattle snapped the ball.

Officials ruled that Branch took two steps inbounds before his foot went out of bounds, so the call stood up, and Seattle scored two plays later.

A replay call also factored in on the Seahawks’ next touchdown, a 61-yard return by Seattle cornerback Kelly Herndon. That play came on what was supposed to be a field goal attempt but resulted in a bobbled snap and an attempted throw by Kansas City holder Dustin Colquitt.

The play initially looked like an incomplete pass – Colquitt’s arm came forward as Herndon closed in on him – but the whistle never blew, and Herndon alertly picked up the loose ball and ran into the end zone.

That replay also upheld the call, much to the chagrin of the Chiefs.

“I thought it was a forward pass,” tight end Tony Gonzalez said. “I was talking trash to the ref. I said, ‘I don’t know if you got that one right.’ But he thought he got it right.”

Head official Pete Morelli defended the call later.

“The holder (Colquitt) looked like he was attempting to throw the ball, but it was just rolling out of his hand without any control,” Morelli told Kansas City pool reporter Rick Dean after the game. “Therefore, it’s a fumble rather than a forward pass.”

Herndon admitted afterward that he wasn’t sure whether it was a fumble or not, and that he only reacted when he saw the loose ball on the grass.

“I was just trying to make a play,” he said. “I didn’t know if it was a fumble, but I kept playing through the play.”

The Seahawks benefited from another replay call a few minutes later, and this time the decision overturned a call.

After quarterback Seneca Wallace had thrown an interception that appeared to end the Seahawks’ final drive with 1:58 left in the game, Holmgren challenged the call – because the play started with more than two minutes left on the clock, the play can be challenged by a coach rather than the official – because Seattle’s Branch appeared to have possession of the ball at the end of the play. Replays showed that Branch stripped the ball from interceptor Jared Allen as the two players fell out of bounds.

“(Branch) had the ball and two feet down inbounds before he fell out of bounds,” Morelli told the pool reporter. “He had established possession on the field.”

That call, unlike the previous two, did not result in a Seahawks touchdown.

“It worked in our favor today,” Seahawks receiver Darrell Jackson said of the replay rule. “Branch made a great play to keep us in the game. It’s unfortunate we didn’t make enough plays to win it.”

Kansas City’s Gonzalez had the opposite reaction of the replay calls.

“Whatever,” he said. “We won, so that’s all that matters.”