At the end of the first half, the refs ruled that Seattle did not get the snap off in time. But was that the right decision?
At the end of the first half of the Atlanta Falcons' playoff game against the Seattle Seahawks, Seattle was staring down a 20-0 deficit. The Seahawks ran a promising two-minute drill, but it ended with Russell Wilson getting sacked. Or did it?
The Seahawks' failed in their rushed attempt to snap the ball before the clock ran out after the sack, according to the refs, and the teams left the field for halftime. But the gap between the clock and when Wilson snapped the ball was so small that it begged further investigation.
By going frame-by-frame through Fox's broadcast, it turned out that, according to the clock displayed on TV, Russell Wilson actually did snap the ball in time — in which case, the refs would've robbed the Seahawks of seven points.
Because everyone thought that the game was over, Wilson had been able to throw to a wide-open receiver for a touchdown.
However, Fox later showed the play with the accurate game clock superimposed on the screen, and it turns out that, in fact, Seattle did not get it off: the refs were right.
