Seahawks broke – and benefited from – illegal-bat rule in 2013

Although Seahawks linebacker K.J. Wright and coach Pete Carroll say they didn’t know about the batted-ball rule, they were both part of a game when another section of it came into play.

According to Pro Pootball Talk, the batted-ball rule was enforced in a 2013 game between the Seahawks and 49ers, when Seattle’s Chris Maragos was penalized for illegally batting the ball forward following a blocked punt. Here’s PFT’s rundown:

It happened at 2:02 in the first quarter, with former 49ers receiver Kassim Osgood blocking a punt from (Jon) Ryan at the Seattle eight. The ball went forward, toward the sideline. Seahawks safety Chris Maragos immediately tracked it down, reaching the football at the Seattle 17 and, just before it bounced out of bounds, slapping the ball down the field. It was touched by the 49ers and then went out of bounds at the Seattle 34, for a 17-yard bat.

In that case, the officials threw the flag. The glitch came from the enforcement; San Francisco’s options were to penalize the Seahawks half the distance from the Seattle 17 and face fourth down again or decline the penalty and take the ball at the 34 – 17 yards away from where Maragos applied the illegal bat.

The 49ers, starting at the 34 instead of the 17 or, perhaps, the 17 plus half the distance after the penalty was enforced, scored only a field goal on the drive.

So the Seahawks picked up 17 yards of field position thanks to a loophole about which Maragos seemed to be fully aware. Even if Maragos didn’t know he was doing something smart, the incident made the Seahawks aware of the illegal bat rule.

On “Brock and Salk” Tuesday, John Clayton said the rule goes back to the “Holy Roller” play in 1978, when Raiders tight end Dave Casper recovered a controversial forward fumble to win a game. Clayton said Monday night’s play was a non-call that should have been called.

“This has been a rule that’s been in place,” Clayton said. “Whether it’s in the red zone, whether it’s at the back of the end zone, whether it’s on the sidelines, you just can’t tap the ball forward. And that is one play that should have been an easy call.”

Clayton said it was a rule that Wright should have known about.

“Yeah, he should have,” Clayton said. “You would need to know as many rules you can. And this is one had the official called the play right, K.J. is going to being feeling pretty bad because he cost the team the potential chance of winning the football game.

“He’s still a young player and he’ll know it now.”

So will the rest of the league.

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