NFL explains Giants’ controversial blocked field goal to defeat Seahawks, here’s why there’s no penalty

The New York Giants blocked a field goal attempt and ran the ball back for a touchdown to seal the victory against the Seattle Seahawks, but should the trip to the end zone even have counted? While some say no, pointing to what they believe should be a penalty, the NFL maintains that everything that went down during that play was within the rules.

Before we get into what each side of this argument says to back up their stance, let’s take a look at the play:

The Seahawks were attempting a 47-yard field goal that if made, would tie the game at 23 each. Giants linebacker Isaiah Simmons lined up left of the long snapper, jumped over Seahawks right guard Laken Tomlinson and blocked the kick, setting up Bryce Ford-Wheaton to grab the ball and go 60 yards for a score for New York.

New York took a knee instead of attempting a play on a two-point conversion, keeping the score at 29-20, where it would stay.

Many football fans thought this one would be coming back and the Seahawks would get another chance to tie things up. Defenders aren’t permitted to jump over the offensive line to block a field goal and at first glance, it looked like that’s exactly what Simmons did.

NFL Officiating Rules Analyst Walt Anderson explained that Simmons was on the line of scrimmage and didn’t use a player for leverage, so there was no penalty. Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald seemed to agree with the no call, saying his team should’ve done a better job closing the gap. 

“There’s a guy in the A gap, we need to block him. It’s pretty much that simple,” Macdonald said. “But you’re allowed to push down, they pushed down on our right guard, and he wasn’t able to get to Simmons.”

Some also called out Giants’ Rakeem Nunez-Roches for pushing down on long snapper Chris Stoll, but the league said “pushing down alone is not a foul and there was no forcible contact to the head and neck.”

Despite this being a scoring play, the two areas of controversy during the play are not reviewable.