First penalty of SB game?

Pre emptive apologies here but I wonder if somebody can tell me what the penalty was on the first play of the Superbowl. Seems it should have not
been called a safety because penalty.
I couldn't find anything relating to this in forum.

Then what did you think the proper call was?

Illegal shift - called on Denver, Seattle declines it results in a safety, if my memory serves.

it was an illegal shift call. It wasn't procedure, which would nulify the play.
In this case, you wait for the result of the play then the non-offending team (in this case the Seahawks) have the option to accept the result of the play or have the down re-played.

The result of the play was a safety, the other option was to take the 2 points off the board, back Denver up 10 yds and let them go 1st and 20.

doesn't take a genius to conclude you decline the penalty, take the 2 pts and the kickoff. :bricks:

363839 said:

Pre emptive apologies here but I wonder if somebody can tell me what the penalty was on the first play of the Superbowl. Seems it should have not
been called a safety because penalty.
I couldn't find anything relating to this in forum.

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Can't find anything because it was the correct call.

When I saw that flag sail, I thought for certain they were going to bail Manning out. I was shocked it went against the Donks.

ddanny1992 said:

Then what did you think the proper call was?

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I didn't see the play. I had heard some grumblings about the play should have resulted in a penalty and that it should not have been a choice for the defense to accept or decline.
Furthermore, my boss, who knows I frequent this forum asked me to ask the forum about the play. He is adamant that it should not have resulted in a safety.
Fwiw, I'm glad Denver lost. Seems pundits had their mind made up as to who the GOAT is now that their boy has made it to another superbowl and had td record again.
And thanks for the replies, Guys.

363839 said:

Pre emptive apologies here but I wonder if somebody can tell me what the penalty was on the first play of the Superbowl. Seems it should have not
been called a safety because penalty.
I couldn't find anything relating to this in forum.

Click to expand...

It was illegal motion. The entire Broncos team was set except for Manning himself who was walking forward to bark out signals when the ball was snapped.

Sure the Seahawks could have accepted the penalty but I think getting a safety is better than giving the ball back to Denver, 1st and 15. Anyone who thinks that the Seahawks wouldn't have the choice to accept or decline is thinking of a false start. A false start is a pre-snap penalty so the play doesn't count. Illegal motion is a penalty that occurs at the snap, so the play counts.

Amazon4 said:

When I saw that flag sail, I thought for certain they were going to bail Manning out. I was shocked it went against the Donks.

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They tried their best to help the Donks out on Pete's first challenge. The reply clearly showed the ball landed either at the first down marker or within inches; and instead of moving the ball to where it should've been placed, Pete lost the challenge and the ball was kept a full yard short of the marker.

voluntarysaftey said:

They tried their best to help the Donks out on Pete's first challenge. The reply clearly showed the ball landed either at the first down marker or within inches; and instead of moving the ball to where it should've been placed, Pete lost the challenge and the ball was kept a full yard short of the marker.

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Yeah that stood out to me as well, but could that have been a mistake on Pete's part?

Don't coaches usually challenge the spot? Not sure what the rule is, but I think I remember the refs saying he was challenging that it was a first down. I'm not sure if in that situation, they are still supposed to review the spot and adjust.

Either way, first down or not, I agree it was way short but I'm not sure if it was due to what Pete actually challenged or not.

Agreed. It was not a yard short. Once they review a play like that I thought they were open on being able to fix the spot of the ball. I'm sure I've seen it happen. Unless it wasn't this year and there was a rule change pertaining to reviews/challenges. If it was inches it may have not been a FG try. Not that in the end it mattered. But at that point it could have.

SB39 said:

It was illegal motion. The entire Broncos team was set except for Manning himself who was walking forward to bark out signals when the ball was snapped.

Sure the Seahawks could have accepted the penalty but I think getting a safety is better than giving the ball back to Denver, 1st and 15. Anyone who thinks that the Seahawks wouldn't have the choice to accept or decline is thinking of a false start. A false start is a pre-snap penalty so the play doesn't count. Illegal motion is a penalty that occurs at the snap, so the play counts.

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There are very few situations where it makes sense to accept a penalty rather than taking the points and the ball.

PatriotSeven said:

Yeah that stood out to me as well, but could that have been a mistake on Pete's part?

Don't coaches usually challenge the spot? Not sure what the rule is, but I think I remember the refs saying he was challenging that it was a first down. I'm not sure if in that situation, they are still supposed to review the spot and adjust.

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The rule is that you can only challenge the spot of the ball if a 1st down is at stake. The NFL doesn't want coaches challenging saying it should be 4th and 5 instead of 4th and 6 (although I doubt many coaches would challenge the spot of the ball unless a 1st down was at stake).

Anyways, I think it was a good challenge and a bad call by the ref. Wilson stretched the ball to the first down marker before any part of his body went down. I think Seattle got hosed. Certainly didn't make any difference in the long run but at the time I was a bit upset.

I saw the replay today. The call was "illegal motion...on #18...that penalty is declined."

Amazon4 said:

When I saw that flag sail, I thought for certain they were going to bail Manning out. I was shocked it went against the Donks.

Click to expand...

Jackson 2 said:

I saw the replay today. The call was "illegal motion...on #18...that penalty is declined."

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And so ...

http://www.patsfans.com/new-england-patriots/messageboard/10/1097504-jermaine-wiggins-p-manning-not-his-center-forgot-snapcount-bad-snap.html#.UvGmpEJdVLo

The penalty was illegal motion on Manning because he was moving toward the los when the ball was snapped.

in repsonse to the OPs question about the Bronco fan conspiracy theory, if there is illegal proceedure BEFORE the snap, it is a penalty and a dead ball, so there are cases where they carry out the play and it doesn't count.
That is not the case here, because the penalty occured AT not prior to the snap.