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The process of spotting the ball in the short game is part science, part art, part dance.
There is a linesman on one side of the field. On the opposite side of the court stands the referee. After the game is over, they start walking to the middle of the field at the place that everyone has identified. If, as they approach each other, it becomes apparent that they are in two different places, one defers to the other and meets at what becomes the official place.
Sometimes one of the officials will express (with words or gestures) a certain degree of confidence on the spot more strongly than the other. The other will have to decide, in a fraction of a second, whether to agree or withdraw.
On the critical fourth down of Sunday night’s Bills-Chiefs games, the official at the top of the screen was linesman Jeff Seeman (standing far left in photo). The official at the bottom of the screen was Judge Patrick Holt.
After the play ends, Seeman goes to the scrum at his place – the closer of the 40. That’s an indication that Seeman believed Bills quarterback Josh Allen got the first down. Holt, however, was on the opposite side of the 40, just short of the line to win. And Seeman gave way to Holt.
Had Holt passed on Seeman, Buffalo would have moved on.
It’s that simple. Two officials had two different posts, and one gave way to the other.
In this particular case, the guy who had a potential look at the ball gave way to a guy who couldn’t see it through Allen’s back. So why did Seeman agree to Holt?
When the postseason begins, the NFL changes teams that have worked together all season. Prior to Sunday, Holt and Seeman had no history of working together in the 2024 season.
In the regular season, Seeman worked on Shawn Smith’s crew. Holt worked on Shawn Hochuli’s crew. For the NFC Championship, Seeman and Holt were added to a crew led by Clete Blakeman.
(None of Seeman’s regular-season crew worked with him on Sunday. Holt worked all season with umpire Terry Killens, Jr.)
Regardless of how or why it happened, Seeman gave way to Holt. Although the ball was facing Seeman, not Holt.
It’s a very tangible example of the various flaws inherent in the current ball-spotting system. It’s not just what the two eyes saw. That’s what four eyes saw, with two of those eyes potentially handing over to the other two eyes as the two officials make their way to midfield.
Surely there is a better way to make such critical decisions.
