The last time the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks met, the game ignited quite the controversy. Their reunion in the NFC Championship is nothing short of it. 

In the second quarter, Seahawks’ DeMarcus Lawrence sacked Matthew Stafford on a third-and-10 to force a 50-yard field-goal attempt. In the process, he grabbed his facemask as he brought him down. The referee did not give it a penalty, and now the fans are angry. 

Shannon Sharpe was one of these fans. “Seahawks gotta away with a facemask,” he quoted on X, slapping back at referees for what fans are calling bad officiating. 

The fans are angry because the referee didn’t make the call, and the Rams had to punt instead of continuing their drive. As a result, they only managed a field goal instead of potentially turning that drive into a touchdown or more points. Skip Bayless also raged on this decision. 

“HOW DO THE REFS MISS SUCH A BLATANT GRAB OF THE FACEMASK??? SO EMBARRASSING FOR THE NFL IN A CHAMPIONSHIP GAME,” he posted on X. He carries the same emotions as Shannon Sharpe and the fans; a lot of them have voiced out on social media like these two as well. 

Fans are angry because Matthew Stafford is Not Given the Penalty

A lot of fans have been angered by the officiating. “I’m not a fan of either team, but the Seahawks been getting away with a lot of calls. They missed an offensive pass interference towards the Seahawks endzone,” a user commented. Even neutral fans are angered by this, the referees not giving a penalty to the Rams for the facemask. 

One user even went back to the Patriots vs Broncos game to criticise the officiating. “I understand if the reps missed calls in the Patriots bronco game because you couldn't see anything with all the snow. There's no excuse here in Seattle for these missed calls.” The AFC Championship saw a snowstorm just as halftime ended. Visibility was incredibly low at the time, but with the NFC Championship game, that wasn't the case.

Another fan rained down on the referees, saying, “Who’s surprised? The NFL refs are hot garbage. But don’t worry they have an X ref in the booth who will tell you how great and correct they always are.” The referees have been under much scrutiny this season. The Bills vs. Broncos game raised a lot of questions, and now this one raised eyebrows as well. 

Though many have also supported the decision as well. One said, “There's still plenty of game left, and it's close, a little early to be saying this.” The incident did happen in the second quarter, leaving a lot of game time, but the Rams still lost the game with a 27-31 score.

Now, in a few weeks, the Patriots will face the Seahawks as in the Super Bowl to decide the 2025 champion.

What are your thoughts on the call? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. 

Written by

Reyansh Dubey

Edited by

Siddharth Shirwadkar