NFL officials miss easy muffed punt call due to lack of ‘enhanced video’ in 49ers’ Week 6 win over Seahawks

The San Francisco 49ers defeated the rival Seattle Seahawks, 36-24 on Thursday night to move to 3-3, but they were robbed of a call on the first play of the fourth quarter while it was a six-point game. And it’s something that needs to be addressed when it comes to NFL officiating and the access decision-makers in New York have to review replays.

In the final quarter of this Week 6 opener, 49ers punter Mitch Wishnowsky punted the ball 49 yards down to the Seahawks’ 18-yard line. It appeared the ball touched the hands of returner Dee Williams, and was recovered by San Francisco’s Jalen Graham. The officials ruled the punt was downed by Graham — not a fumble that was recovered — which led 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan to challenge the play.

When the refs returned from reviewing the play, they announced the original call on the field stands. 

What?

Later in the quarter, rules analyst Terry McAulay said on the Amazon broadcast that he spoke with Walt Anderson in the command center in New York, who relayed that the NFL did not get the enhanced video that we all watched on our television screens. So with whatever footage league officials had from the NFL’s cameras, they were unable to see what the rest of the football world saw. Because of this, the wrong call was made.

It almost goes without saying that NFL game-day operations need the same — if not better — shots of plays that we get on our televisions. This play did not affect the outcome of this NFC West showdown, but imagine if it did.