Missed batting call costs Lions in loss to Seahawks

Seattle — In a 13-10 loss to the Seattle Seahawks Monday night, the Lions received several reminders that football is indeed a game of inches.

Calvin Johnson was inches away from scoring a go-ahead, 11-yard touchdown for the Lions with less than 2 minutes remaining. Had Seattle safety Kam Chancellor missed his target while punching the ball free from Johnson, the Lions would've scored.

And if the back judge moved his hand a few inches to grab the yellow flag on his waist, the Lions would've had more opportunities to win the game.

Instead, Johnson lost a fumble, Seahawks linebacker K.J. Wright illegally hit the ball out of the end zone without a penalty and the Lions fell to 0-4 in front of a franchise-record 69,005 people at CenturyLink Field.


But, the game's ending certainly won't end the debate over how much the officials cost the Lions a victory. The team, though, was in no mood to use the missed call as an excuse.

"What can you do, you know what I mean?" coach Jim Caldwell said. "You're not going to cry about it, that's for sure. So, we've just got to tee it up and go at it again."

"At the end of the day," Johnson said, "you've just really got to hold onto the ball. Enough said after that."

Dean Blandino, the NFL’s vice president of officiating, did plenty of talking after the game, but his admission of the missed call is merely lip service for the Lions.

“You can’t bat the ball in any direction in the end zone, either end zone,” Blandino said on NFL Network shortly after the game. “So, K.J. Wright batted the football; that is a foul for an illegal bat.”

Blandino explained that the batting was a judgment call up to back judge Greg Wilson, who had a clear look at Wright — who admitted to pushing the ball out — as the player tapped the ball out of the back of the end zone. However, Wilson decided Wright's move was not overt, and because the issue was an uncalled penalty, the call was not reviewable.

“It’s a foul, we have to make that call,” Blandino said.

In theory, if the flag falls, the Lions would've had the ball inside the 1-yard line, with a first down and 1:45 remaining.


Instead, the Seahawks took over, converted one first down and ran out the clock, forcing a Lions drive that went nearly 90½ yards to be for naught.

"Coming down the stretch, you want the ball in your playmakers' hands," said Lions safety James Ihedigbo, who led a tremendous defensive effort. "You give Calvin and (Golden Tate) touches going down the stretch; you have a 90-yard drive to win the game. That's the Detroit Lions. That's us. That's the team that we were last year; that's the team that we are.

"For it to end the way it did, it's tough. And it's absolutely no one's fault. It was just a heck of a play by them."

Ultimately, the Lions didn't play well enough to win, and they didn't hide from that fact. The offense gained just 256 yards and was 3-for-13 on third downs, and the Lions have now failed to lead at any point in their last three games. They're the last team in the NFL without a victory; the Bears, Saints and Ravens all won this week.

Besides a few ill-timed errors, the Lions defense had an excellent effort with six sacks — including two by defensive end Ezekiel Ansah — and three fumble recoveries, the first time the team has done that since 2004. The Lions' only touchdown came on a 27-yard fumble return by defensive tackle Caraun Reid in the fourth quarter.

"We put on a show," Ihedigbo said of the Lions' defense. "We gave the people what they wanted to see. They wanted to see what a top defense looks like and that's what we played like."

Even more impressive, the Lions managed their strong defensive effort without starting defensive tackles Tyrunn Walker (broken leg) and Haloti Ngata (calf) for much of the second half.

Quarterback Matthew Stafford was 24 of 35 for 203 yards and missed an open Johnson a couple times over the course of the game. Johnson finished with seven catches for 56 yards, but the fumble will be the lasting memory.

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