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Richard Sherman and Rex Ryan exchange words over 'ridiculous' hit on kicker
Of all the people in the NFL, you knew Buffalo Bills coach Rex Ryan and Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman weren’t going to be quiet about a controversial play on Monday night.
Ryan wasn’t happy that Sherman barrelled into his kicker, Dan Carpenter, at the end of the first half and he wasn’t happy with the officials for not calling a penalty. Sherman didn’t seem to care what Ryan or any Bills player thought.
Sherman jumped offside on a field-goal attempt at the end of the first half. He kept playing, dove for the block and crashed into Carpenter’s leg. ESPN’s Lisa Salters reported during the game that some Bills players thought it was dirty.
“Jumping offsides is one thing, hitting the kicker is another,” LeSean McCoy said after the game, according to All22.com. “That was different. Never seen that before.”
Sherman told ESPN right after the game that there was nothing dirty about it. He said he was diving for the ball.
“I went straight for the ball,” Sherman said. “I didn’t go for the kicker. He should have not kicked it. Maybe he wanted to. I went for the ball, that’s where I when. So when the ball gets tipped on a play, the rule is if it’s tipped, there’s no flag.”
While roughing the kicker might not have been applicable because Sherman tipped the kick, NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino tweeted during the game that unnecessary roughness should have been called, seemingly an admission that the officials missed the call on the field.
In a pool report after the game, referee Walt Anderson said the play was blown dead and he “didn’t feel like the actions and the contact, because we were shutting the play down, warranted a foul.”
Sherman complained last week about the NFL missing calls that went against the Seahawks. So he wasn’t exactly fazed by Blandino saying they missed a call against him.
“That don’t mean nothing to me,” Sherman said. “They miss a ton of calls. We’ve dealt with missed calls all year.”
The play ended up being important in the outcome. The Bills spiked the ball after Sherman hit Carpenter, so they could get Carpenter back on the field after Bills trainers came out to check on him. Carpenter had to sit out a play because the trainers came out. Then after the spike, the officials had to get the “K” ball for kickers back in the game and they took so long with it, the Bills didn’t get a snap off and were called for delay of game.
“Then of course they had to put the “K” ball out there and they don’t reset the clock,” Ryan said in his postgame press conference. “From an officiating standpoint, I think they can do a little better than that.”
The officials stood over the ball, not allowing it to be snapped, until there were just a few seconds left on the play clock. Anderson seemed to be unaware there was that little time left on the play clock when the ball was finally set.
“If there was that little time left, then that’s probably a mistake on my part in terms of not pumping the play clock back up,” Anderson said.
Then Carpenter missed after the delay of game penalty. The Bills came up short of a touchdown in the final minute of a 31-25 Seahawks win. Had Carpenter made a field goal at the end of the first half, he could have been kicking another field goal at the end to send the game to overtime.
And to make it even worse for the Bills, after a second-half interception, Sherman was pushed out of bounds on the Bills sideline and stared down Ryan. Ryan wasn’t going to hold his tongue there.
“It was a ridiculous play, no question,” Ryan said, first referring to the field-goal roughness play that wasn’t called. “Then he’s over on the sideline basically taunting us. So I had some words. I think I said, ‘You’re too good of a player to act like an ass.’ I think that’s what I said.”
What bothered Ryan more than what he called Sherman’s “mean mugging” was being on the wrong side of a missed call when Sherman dove into his kicker.
“Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous,” Ryan said.
“It was wrong. It’s clear what happened. The guy roughed our kicker. Jumped offside, roughed our kicker.”
Richard Sherman was not called for a penalty despite diving into Bills kicker Dan Carpenter (AP)
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Of all the people in the NFL, you knew Buffalo Bills coach Rex Ryan and Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman weren’t going to be quiet about a controversial play on Monday night.
Ryan wasn’t happy that Sherman barrelled into his kicker, Dan Carpenter, at the end of the first half and he wasn’t happy with the officials for not calling a penalty. Sherman didn’t seem to care what Ryan or any Bills player thought.
Sherman jumped offside on a field-goal attempt at the end of the first half. He kept playing, dove for the block and crashed into Carpenter’s leg. ESPN’s Lisa Salters reported during the game that some Bills players thought it was dirty.
“Jumping offsides is one thing, hitting the kicker is another,” LeSean McCoy said after the game, according to All22.com. “That was different. Never seen that before.”
Sherman told ESPN right after the game that there was nothing dirty about it. He said he was diving for the ball.
“I went straight for the ball,” Sherman said. “I didn’t go for the kicker. He should have not kicked it. Maybe he wanted to. I went for the ball, that’s where I when. So when the ball gets tipped on a play, the rule is if it’s tipped, there’s no flag.”
While roughing the kicker might not have been applicable because Sherman tipped the kick, NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino tweeted during the game that unnecessary roughness should have been called, seemingly an admission that the officials missed the call on the field.
In a pool report after the game, referee Walt Anderson said the play was blown dead and he “didn’t feel like the actions and the contact, because we were shutting the play down, warranted a foul.”
Sherman complained last week about the NFL missing calls that went against the Seahawks. So he wasn’t exactly fazed by Blandino saying they missed a call against him.
“That don’t mean nothing to me,” Sherman said. “They miss a ton of calls. We’ve dealt with missed calls all year.”
The play ended up being important in the outcome. The Bills spiked the ball after Sherman hit Carpenter, so they could get Carpenter back on the field after Bills trainers came out to check on him. Carpenter had to sit out a play because the trainers came out. Then after the spike, the officials had to get the “K” ball for kickers back in the game and they took so long with it, the Bills didn’t get a snap off and were called for delay of game.
“Then of course they had to put the “K” ball out there and they don’t reset the clock,” Ryan said in his postgame press conference. “From an officiating standpoint, I think they can do a little better than that.”
The officials stood over the ball, not allowing it to be snapped, until there were just a few seconds left on the play clock. Anderson seemed to be unaware there was that little time left on the play clock when the ball was finally set.
“If there was that little time left, then that’s probably a mistake on my part in terms of not pumping the play clock back up,” Anderson said.
Then Carpenter missed after the delay of game penalty. The Bills came up short of a touchdown in the final minute of a 31-25 Seahawks win. Had Carpenter made a field goal at the end of the first half, he could have been kicking another field goal at the end to send the game to overtime.
And to make it even worse for the Bills, after a second-half interception, Sherman was pushed out of bounds on the Bills sideline and stared down Ryan. Ryan wasn’t going to hold his tongue there.
“It was a ridiculous play, no question,” Ryan said, first referring to the field-goal roughness play that wasn’t called. “Then he’s over on the sideline basically taunting us. So I had some words. I think I said, ‘You’re too good of a player to act like an ass.’ I think that’s what I said.”
What bothered Ryan more than what he called Sherman’s “mean mugging” was being on the wrong side of a missed call when Sherman dove into his kicker.
“Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous,” Ryan said.
“It was wrong. It’s clear what happened. The guy roughed our kicker. Jumped offside, roughed our kicker.”
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!Follow @YahooSchwab