Every NFL game Sunday, expect the unexpected.
Week 4 featured an unexpected exchange between linesman Jeff Seeman and Cardinals tight end Trey McBride.
This happened after a pass interference non-call late in the Cardinals-Giants game. This looked like a pretty clear foul. McBride made his case to Seeman. And while cameras and microphones didn’t capture anything of what McBride said, a CBS camera on the sidelines showed Seeman apparently telling McBride, “Fuck you.” Twice.
NFL Players Association executive director JC Tretter released a statement calling Seeman’s behavior “unacceptable” and expressing the hope that the league will hold officials to the same standards as those applied to players.
Via Sam Neumann of Horrible announcementCBS reporter Aditi Kinkhabwala witnessed the interaction. She I didn’t hear any rudeness by McBride.
“I was standing right there,” Kinkhabwala said on Twitter. “The crazy thing is, it all started with Trey McBride saying ‘please’ while pleading his case for an IP flag. He was definitely angry, but I never heard a curse word from him. The hardest he got was, ‘You’re ruining the game.'”
It was a bad decision, of course. The latest in a recent epidemic of bad calls and pass interference non-calls. The point is, to the extent that players, coaches and officials interact after such decisions are made, certain lines should not be crossed.
If McBride had told Seeman what Seeman apparently said to McBride, there surely would have been consequences. During the Fail Mary mishap of 2012, the NFL imposed several fines on coaches for their conduct towards the replacement officials.
The league said it would review the situation. There isn’t much to review, however. The eye in the sky doesn’t lie, and it doesn’t take extensive lip-reading skills to figure out what Seeman said to McBride.
Gn sports
