🧙Seattle's own little twilight zone 🧙

There is a chunk of FieldTurf at the north end of Seattle’s football stadium that lies somewhere between science and superstition. A place that has been known to exert its own gravitational pull upon an oblong spheroid, causing kicks to fall short, snaps to be bobbled or replacement referees to loose all bearings.

It is 10 yards long and 160 feet wide, 4,800 square feet that have caused more than 20 years of chaos, and today’s newsletter is a not-quite-exhaustive history of what we’ve come to call (ominous music) The End Zone of Destiny.

But first, here’s a link to my appearance on The Ian Furness Show:

The ominous sign

Oct. 14, 2002 — Neither Al Michaels nor John Madden noticed what Terrell Owens did to celebrate his 37-yard touchdown catch midway through the fourth quarter of a Monday night game.

It wasn’t until the replay that Michaels commented on the fact that — after scoring — Owens reached down toward his foot.

“What is,” Michaels said. “Is that a pen?”

“He had a pen in his sock,” Madden said, chuckling, “and he pulled it out and autographed the ball.”

Michaels: “That’s a first. Who would even think of that?”

Madden: “Who would think of that? Terrell Owens would think of that.”

The touchdown gave San Francisco a 26-21 lead with 7:46 remaining in the game.

In retrospect, I have questions given that Owens had scored on an 8-yard touchdown pass back in the first quarter:

• Did he have the Sharpie in his sock when he scored that time?

• Did he decide that a piddling little 8-yard scoring reception wasn’t worth a signature celebration?

• Was he so confident that he would score again that he wanted a more dramatic moment?

• Or was he waiting to score in the north end zone?

The result: 49ers 28, Seahawks 21

The kicker

Nov. 27, 2005 — Three days after Thanksgiving when the Seattle Seahawks hosted the New York Giants in a game that is remembered for two things:

1. New York was penalized 16 times. Eleven of those penalties were for false starts with five applied to an offensive tackle named Luke Petitgout.

2. Jay Feely missed three field-goal attempts, any one of which would have won the game.

The first of Feely’s misses was the shortest: a 40-yard attempt with 4 seconds left in regulation, the score tied 21-21. This was especially notable because Giants tight end Jeremy Shockey was pointing at a camera on the sidelines only to turn away toward the field when the crowd’s reaction informed him that Feely had missed to the left. 

That went up going wide left. Feely would miss two more attempts in overtime, the first from 54 and then from 45. Neither of those kicks appeared to have sufficient distance. The third and final miss was also to the right. The highlights from ESPN’s “Prime Time” are linked here on this Reddit post.

Final: Seattle 24, N.Y. Giants 21 (OT)

Romo’s bobble

Jan. 6, 2007 — In retrospect, it was kind of strange that Tony Romo was holding for the field goal. He was the starting quarterback, after all, and that’s something punters now do.

But Romo started the season as Drew Bledsoe’s backup, and so he was holding for a random Gramatica,¹ as the Cowboys attempted a go-ahead field goal from the Seattle 2.

The snap was good, hitting Romo in his hands, but he bobbled the ball and was unable to get it down for Martin Gramatica to attempt the kick. Romo then picked up the ball, running to his left and for one excruciatingly long second it appeared Romo had a path to the end zone only to be ran down from behind, tackled by Jordan Babineaux at the 1.

Final: Seattle 21, Dallas 20

The Fail Mary

No time remaining, two replacement referees and a decision that still evokes ardent heart-felt arguments on both sides.

Describing what happened on the play is fairly straight forward. Seattle had the ball, fourth-and-8 at the Green Bay 24. The Seahawks trailed 12-7. There were 8 seconds left.

Wilson scrambled and then threw the ball toward the corner of the end zone where M.D. Jennings and Golden Tate fall to the ground, wrestling with each other for the ball. Two officials converged, the back judge waving his hands above the head, a signal that means to stop the clock. The side judge, a fellow named Lance Easley, signaled a touchdown. It’s worth noting that the NFL’s regular referees were on strike, meaning these were replacement officials.

Do I think that Tate should have been awarded a touchdown? No, I do not. I believe that Jennings controlled the ball first and then Tate grabbed hold. I’m less certain if there was the clear-and-convincing evidence necessary to overturn the original call.

However, I’ve had to listen to people whine about this for so long that I have – on occasion – been known to argue vociferously that Tate actually controlled the ball first, though it was with one hand, and Jennings grabbed it next.

On the other hand, questioning the validity of the touchdown will prompt some Seahawk fans — in this case a published author — to scold me.

David is wrong. I’ve spoken to two different NFL referees, one of whom is retired and the other still active. Both walked me through how the play should have been officiated, pointing to the rules on the completion of a catch and specifically a passage about “simultaneous possession.”

I’ve heard people argue that Tate actually controlled the ball first, in effect catching the ball with one hand before Jennings grabbed it with two. I find this unconvincing.

What I am certain of is that the final score will remain Seattle 14, Green Bay 12, and that’s only because the Seahawks had to be summoned from the locker room, being brought out to kick the point-after and make it official. One of the tight ends on the team at the time, a guy named Evan Moore, said that Marshawn Lynch – who was getting ready to shower – wanted to go back out on the field in a towel.

Final: Seattle 14, Green Bay 12

Free-for-all

Jan. 19, 2014 — The Seahawks had the ball at the San Francisco 35, facing fourth-and-7 and trailing 17-13.

For a solid 10 seconds, it was unclear whether Seattle was going to leave its offense on the field or summon Steven Hauschka to attempt a 53-yard field goal that would have matched his career long.

“Hauschka is late getting out there,” said announcer Joe Buck. “They reset the play clock. Hauschka had to be told a couple of times by Pete Carroll to get out there.”

“That’s usually not a good sign,” Troy Aikman said. 

The Seahawks wound up letting the play clock get to 1 second before calling a timeout, their first of the half. When the broadcast returned from commercial, the Seahawks offense was on the field in a three receiver formation. Wilson went with a hard count, causing Aldon Smith to jump offsides.

All the receivers streaked to the end zone and Wilson threw to Jermaine Kearse who caught it for the go-ahead touchdown.

Final: Seattle 23, San Francisco 17

Throwing blind

Seattle erased a 12-point deficit in the final 5 minutes of the NFC Championship Game, but the two-point conversion that followed wound up being the only reason the Seahawks even made it to overtime.

Seattle took a 20-19 lead over Green Bay Marshawn Lynch’s 24-yard touchdown run with 1:25 left. The Seahawks went for two, trying to get a three-point cushion.

Wilson scrambled to his right, and then as he neared the opponent’s sideline, threw completely across the field.

To say Wilson threw toward Luke Willson would imply that Russ had an eye on the tight end. He certainly did not. Rather, Russ threw an exceptionally high-arcing pass in the direction of someone he thought might be open, and it happened to be Willson, who was initially pass-blocking on the play.

The Packers tied the game with a field goal at the end of regulation, and Seattle won in overtime.

Final: Seattle 28, Green Bay 22

Kam > Megatron

Oct. 5, 2015 — Kam Chancellor sat out the first two games of the season because he wanted a better contract.

He didn’t get it, but in his second game, he showed how valuable he was, knocking the ball loose from Calvin Johnson, who was falling toward what would have been the go-ahead touchdown.

K.J. Wright, who’d also been chasing down Johnson, then approached the ball and instead of catching it, he batted it out the back of the end zone and the officials ruled it was a touchback. 

According to the rules, however, a player can not bat a loose ball in the end zone. If that happens, possession reverts to the team that had it at the point of the fumble. In this case, the ball would have gone to the Lions at the Seattle 1.

There was no penalty, however. The Seahawks were awarded possession at the Seattle 20.

Final: Seattle 13, Detroit 10

Russ, and the Broncos, come up short

Man, Nathaniel Hackett had no chance. His first game in his first season as head coach was in prime time against a team that was notorious for its inability to play normal football games.

Of all the things that have happened in The End Zone of Destiny, this will always be the funniest to me.

Russell Wilson’s first game as a Bronco was played in Seattle on a Monday night, and with 4 minutes left, Wilson’s Broncos got the ball for what could have been a game-winning drive.

Things stalled out at midfield, though, and the Broncos faced fourth-and-5 at the Seattle 46 with just over a minute left and all their timeouts. Instead of trying to get any closer, though, the Broncos decided to attempt a do-or-die kick from there. It went about how you’d expect it, and if there is ever a point in which I do not cackle uncontrollably while listening to Peyton Manning and Shannon Sharpe talk their way through this sequence of events, you should probably call the coroner because it means I’ve left this mortal coil.

Final: Seattle 17, Denver 16

Two points for common courtesy

Dec. 18, 2025 — Technically, Zach Charbonnet was credited with a successful run on the two-point conversion.

He didn’t run, though. He barely walked. He simply bent over and picked up what everyone assumed was a dead ball after Sam Darnold’s pass had ricocheted off the helmet of the Rams Jared Verse.

No one thought it was a live ball. Not the officials. Not the Rams. Not Charbonnet. But technically, it was and because Charbonnet picked the ball up and because he was standing in the end zone when he did so, the Seahawks were awarded two points.

Final: Seattle 38, L.A. Rams 37

1  It was Martin Gramatica in this case.