Golden Tate on game-winning Hail Mary catch: ‘I know I had the ball’

Even the professionals get lucky sometimes. With replacement officials on the field, it’s more likely than ever to happen. The Seahawks got lucky on Monday night. Anyone who saw the pass interference call against the Packers on the final drive of the game and the instantly infamous Hail Mary catch by Golden Tate can tell you that. Of course, Tate is among the very small minority who believe the Seahawks won fair and square.

After shoving a Packers defender down while the ball was in the air, Tate tried to go up and make the catch. Instead, Packers defensive back M.D. Jennings intercepted the pass and clearly gained possession on his way to the ground. The officials apparently thought Tate had simultaneous possession, which by rule goes to the offense. That’s the way Tate saw it as well.

“Yes, I did,” he said on SiriusXM NFL Radio after the game, according to Pro Football Talk. “I know I had the ball in my hands the entire — from the moment that it was catchable. I had my hands on the ball, just fought for it and tried to come down with it.

“I didn’t know what they called, I just know that I had the ball in my hands and at the bottom of the pile I was just fighting to maintain that.”

Since one official made the signal for touchdown while the other waived his arms above his head to indicate an interception, no one knew what the call on the field was. The only thing viewers at home knew for certain was that Jennings had intercepted the pass. The Packers players were irate after the game and many of them took to Twitter to rip the NFL and the officials, and who can blame them? With the exception of Pete Carroll and Tate, just about everyone thinks the referee lockout has to end.