Refs miss clear penalty in wild end to first half of Bills-Seahawks

The end of the first of Monday night’s Bills-Seahawks game was wild.

An exciting first half of Monday night’s games between the Buffalo Bills and Seattle Seahawks game ended in baffling fashion.

When the Bills lined up to kick a 54-yard field goal in the final seconds, Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman jumped offside and hit Bills kicker Dan Carpenter. Sherman was penalized for offsides but not for roughing the kicker.

Fox officiating expert Mike Pereira said roughing the kicker cannot be called because the play is whistled dead on the offside penalty. However, Sherman should have been called for a late hit, Pereira added.

Carpenter was hurt on the play and an injury timeout was called, meaning he would have to sit out one play. Bills coach Rex Ryan instructed his team to quickly spike the ball so Carpenter could get back in the game.

"Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous," Ryan said about the call.

• MMQB: Blow Calls and Bad Looks

Because Carpenter was injured on a foul, he should have been able to stay in the game, NFL head of officiating Dean Blandino said.

At the end of the half in #BUFvsSEA its unnecessary roughness for hitting the kicker. Foul means he can stay in the game.

— Dean Blandino (@DeanBlandino) November 8, 2016

Carpenter’s next attempt (which was good) was wiped out by a delay of game penalty. Pereira said the umpire should not have been standing over the ball with the play clock winding down.

"It doesn’t matter, it was wrong. It was clear what happened. The guy roughed our kicker. He jumps offsides and roughs our kicker. And because we had to go out and attend to him and it wasn’t called roughing the kicker, we had to spike the ball so we can come back in and kick," Ryan said. "I think from an officiating stand point I think they can do a little better than that.”

Carpenter then missed his third try from 54 yards. Seattle went on to win the game 31–25. 

- Dan Gartland and Scooby Axson