Did the NFL Referees get the Seahawks’ second two-point conversion correct?

I’ve been watching NFL football since 1996. A full thirty years of being entertained by, digesting, seeking to understand, and ultimately falling in love with the sport. Even if you write the first several seasons off as me observing without truly understanding what was going on, you’re still talking about a quarter-century of being a fan of this league and sport.

So when I say that I’ve never seen something before on a football field, it’s almost certainly hyperbole. Either that or my memory failing me and simply not recalling the last time I witnessed it. Some events in this league are extremely rare, but you’d think pretty much everything that can happen, has happened.

But none of this applies to last night’s two point conversion attempt with 6:23 remaining in the fourth quarter by the Seattle Seahawks. I mean no hyperbole when I say I’ve never seen that before, and have my doubts we’ll ever see it again. Akin to Michael Dickson’s double punt back in 2021 against these same Los Angeles Rams, it just takes too many improbable events happening in a six second window.

Let’s break it down step by step, and then let’s determine if the referees were correct in awarding Seattle the two points after a video review. After all, when something that never happens happens, it’s fair to wonder if it even should have been allowed to happen, and there’s been no shortage of conflicting information being batted around since last night.

30-28, Seattle has just scored a touchdown on a pass to A.J. Barner and is going for the tie. Darnold lines up under center, JSN outside to his right, Kupp and Barner in the slot to his left, and Charbonnet out wide to the left. Walker deep in the backfield. Zach goes into motion, moving behind Kupp and Barner, and Sam tosses a bubble screen his way.

The play is a disaster. Jared Verse gets upfield so fast the ball hits his hand and helmet. Had the ball gotten to Charbonnet, he was almost certainly going to get tackled by Cobie Durant, with at least a couple other defenders having a shot to make a play if Durant doesn’t. The ball bounces up high, is nearly caught by safety Kamren Curl at the goalline, and hits the ground.

Play over. Whistles blow. Charbonnet jogs over and picks up the ball, rolling around just inside the endzone, for no other reason than that he was closest to the ball and someone had to give it to the referee. No sense that he was even contemplating the possibility that he was actually a couple minutes away from scoring two of the most important points of the Seattle season so far.

Referee Brad Allen (122) reviews a play during the second half between the New York Jets and the New York Giants. — Aug 24, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; Referee Brad Allen (122) reviews a play during the second half between the New York Jets and the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Before the following kickoff, the play is reviewed. An angle revealed that the ‘pass’ was released at just about the four and a quarter yard line, and contacted Jared Verse at around the four and three-quarters yard line. Therefore, the pass traveled backwards, the ball is actually live, and since Curl did not secure the ball on the ground, Charbonnet is credited with the recovery of a live ball and a successful two point conversion.

For the record, while I have seen some argue that replay was inconclusive on this, I feel that a few specific camera angles made it clear and indisputable that the ball went away from the goalline, and most people seem on board with that part of the play. But there are two other aspects of this conversion that are being hotly contested, and have led some to believe the call was wrong.

Whistle While You Work

As mentioned above, one element of this play was a clear whistle by the referees after the ball hit the ground and before Charbonnet picked it up. A referee whistle, even when deployed incorrectly, is generally accepted to be the end of the play, and many took to social media to claim that this should have made the conversion not count.

Terry McAulay, former NFL referee for two decades and NFL rules analyst for NBC Sports and Amazon Prime, stepped in on X to clarify. The whistle is irrelevant as long as the recovery of the ball is clear and immediate. Replay is free to reverse to a live ball and recovery so long as the recovery is deemed to be made in the continuing action, which Charbonnet’s certainly was.

I actually remember the exact game that served as the tipping point for the implementation of this rule change. 2008, Week Two, Broncos VS Chargers. Chargers lead by seven, Broncos driving down to the red zone in the final moments, and the ball slips out of Jay Cutler’s hand as he goes to throw it. Charger recovery, game over. Except, Ed Hoculi blew the whistle right after the ball left Cutler’s hand, assuming it was a forward pass.

Despite knowing full well that it was a clear fumble and clear recovery, by rule, the officials had to give the ball to Denver where the fumble occurred. The Broncos scored a touchdown immediately after this, went for two, got it, and won the game. That offseason, the NFL decided to relax the whistle rule and allow for some flexibility in recovering live balls falsely ruled dead. So there’s no issue here, and the referees got it right.

Dec 18, 2025; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold (14) runs against the Los Angeles Rams in the first half at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Ng-Imagn Images | Kevin Ng-Imagn Images

When A Fumble Isn’t A Fumble

The second problem is the recovery of the ball. Sam Darnold was the player who had possession of the ball last before the pass, not Zach Charbonnet. Per the NFL rulebook, if a ball is fumbled on 4th down, after the two-minute warning of either half, or during a Try, the only offensive player who is allowed to recover and advance the ball is the initial fumbler.

This is a rule designed to patch an exploit famously used by the Oakland Raiders in a 1978 game, where Ken Stabler fumbled the ball on the game’s final play at the 24 yard line, pushed it forward to Pete Banaszak at the 12, who pushed it forward again to allow Dave Casper to push the ball into the endzone to recover it for a walkoff touchdown, now known as the ‘Holy Roller’.

After considering this angle, I did briefly wonder if the referees might have botched this call. A few people suggested that this didn’t apply to the situation since the ball was never actually advanced by Charbonnet, but merely recovered in the endzone. That explanation didn’t feel quite right to me, but I was open to it being the answer.

As it turns out, that explanation is barking up the wrong tree, and the truth lies in a consideration I had never heard of before in all my time watching this sport. For you see, a backwards pass may be considered a fumble on the stat sheet, but it’s actually not a fumble at all. In this very specific instance, Darnold’s fumble is not treated as a fumble as it pertains to recovery.

Had Darnold been sacked on the play and the ball punched out, Charbonnet’s recovery would have meant nothing, since the ball would have then returned to the place where Darnold fumbled it and the conversion would have been ruled unsuccessful. But because of this very obscure distinction between a fumble and a backward pass, the Seahawks got their two points.

So, our final conclusion is that the NFL Referees actually got this one spot on, and that’s something worth commending, since some of the moving parts here are so obscure that it would have been understandable to miss the interpretation. Had they gotten it wrong, we might not have even noticed. But, while Charbonnet’s key conversion may have been very lucky, perhaps even a fluke, it was certainly legal.

NFL referee Brad Rogers (126) calls a penally during the second quarter of a game. — Dec 14, 2025; Denver, Colorado, USA; National Football League referee Brad Rogers (126) calls a penally during the second quarter of a game between the Denver Broncos and the Green Bay Packers at Empower Field at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

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