No Punts by Either Hawks or Cowboys

[RiverDog]

I thought that Thursday's game was unique as I couldn't remember a game in which neither team punted. It turns out that it was just the 6th time in the history of the league that neither team punted:

The Cowboys and Seahawks pulled off a rare feat on Thursday night, playing an entire game without a punt. It was just the sixth time in NFL history that a game concluded with neither team punting.

The first game in NFL history without a punt was Bills-49ers in 1992, featuring a great quarterback duel between Hall of Famers Jim Kelly and Steve Young. The Packers had two no-punt games in 2014, against the Bears and the Saints. Mike McCarthy was the Packers' coach then, so after coaching the Cowboys on Thursday night he has now coached in three of the NFL's zero-punt games. The Eagles-Chiefs regular-season game in 2021 also had no punts. And it's also happened once in the playoffs, between the Chiefs and Colts in 2003.

MSN

The other noteworthy item is that there was just one turnover, Geno's interception, during the game. Turnovers are one of the things that would tend to reduce the number of punts.

 

[Bobblehead]

Well, as well, it's the first time a team that hadn't punted during a game lost.

 

[Fernie Hawks Fan]

Well, as well, it's the first time a team that hadn't punted during a game lost.

Did all those other games end in a tie?

 

[xray]

Not much D in the game had a lot to do with that .

 

[Bobblehead]

Did all those other games end in a tie?

I believe they all won, except for our Hawks.

 

[Fernie Hawks Fan]

I believe they all won, except for our Hawks.

All the games that Riverdog quoted were teams which both never punted, so either they all ended in a tie or one of the teams that never had to punt, ultimately lost.
Or am I missing something?

 

[JGreen79]

All the games that Riverdog quoted were teams which both never punted, so either they all ended in a tie or one of the teams that never had to punt, ultimately lost.
Or am I missing something?

49ers lost to the Bills lost in 1992 in the first ever no punt game.

 

[NoChops]

no need to punt when the refs give you a first down on any 3rd and long...

 

[scutterhawk]

No teams in NFL History have EVER had 125+ PENALTY yards in a game without Punting, which points to out how sh*tty & overzealous a job the Refs did....It gives the appearance (obviously) of the Officials STEERING the game.
YES the Refs doled out the Penalties to BOTH teams, and YES it does point to some sloppy play BY BOTH teams, BUT, the TIMING of critical calls on the Seahawks were suspect & lopsided.
Hell, even a LOT of NON-Seahawks fans have been vociferous about the differential in discrepancies.
The Seahawks DIDN'T JUST LOSE on their own accord.
OH AND, YES, I am a "Sore Loser" when I see Steering by the Officials.

 

[pittpnthrs]

For all the Pete talk around here, I thought McCarthy should have been in the hot seat had he lost that game. Down by points, you skip a 48 yard field goal to go for it on 4th? I can't remember if they made it, probably did, but it was a bad call.

 

[pittpnthrs]

The Seahawks DIDN'T JUST LOSE on their own accord.

Yeah they did.

At some point people have to quit blaming everything on the refs. It's the samething every single game and it's tiresome. How about quit committing penalties.

 

[scutterhawk]

Yeah they did.

At some point people have to quit blaming everything on the refs. It's the samething every single game and it's tiresome. How about quit committing penalties.

No Pitt, they DID NOT.....EXAMPLE: How about the picking up the Foul Flag and ignoring the OBVIOUS face mask on Tyler Lockett.
The Cowboys got away with a lot of critically timed transgressions, THAT'S ON THE REFS.
Penalties HAPPEN, but if you don't think the Refs were going overboard, turning the game into "Flag Football", You need to take the blinders off

 

[pittpnthrs]

No Pitt, they DID NOT.....EXAMPLE: How about the picking up the Foul Flag and ignoring the OBVIOUS face mask on Tyler Lockett.
The Cowboys got away with a lot of critically timed transgressions, THAT'S ON THE REFS.
Penalties HAPPEN, but if you don't think the Refs were going overboard, turning the game into "Flag Football", You need to take the blinders off

Oh, they did throw an exuberant amount of flags Scutter. Not even trying to deny that, but I don't believe it cost Seattle the game as Dallas had just as many thrown on them. It was a close game that could have gone either way and both teams had their chances. Thats all I was saying.

 

[scutterhawk]

Not ALL the penalties were equal, the Timing & field position is what I'm talking about when it came to the differentials.
Geno threw 3 TD's in 9 seconds with only having one that counted...The first was called a TD, the ball was not bobbled, didn't touch the ground first, and the ball wasn't trapped, so why was it overturned? REPLAY
One of the Refs threw a flag for the "Facemask" play on Dj Dallas, TO BE FAIR THEN, why was the flag picked up and a no foul called? NO REPLAY.
Do you see where this is going?....Not all penalties/Non-penalties were called/uncalled UNEQUALLY, and that is STEERING.

 

[hangumhi]

Not much D in the game had a lot to do with that .

Also the penalties kept the ball moving.

 

[Flyingsquad23]

Not ALL the penalties were equal, the Timing & field position is what I'm talking about when it came to the differentials.
Geno threw 3 TD's in 9 seconds with only having one that counted...The first was called a TD, the ball was not bobbled, didn't touch the ground first, and the ball wasn't trapped, so why was it overturned? REPLAY
One of the Refs threw a flag for the "Facemask" play on Lockett, TO BE FAIR THEN, why was the flag picked up and a no foul called? NO REPLAY.
Do you see where this is going?....Not all penalties/Non-penalties were called/uncalled EQUALLY, and that is STEERING.

Having most of the penalties on the defense probably helped allow the offense to go with out punting.

Only one of those three TD was going to count any way as all three were in the same possession. JSN’s catch was overturned and the 2nd was no play because of a T.O.

The catch overturn was questionable but when I watched the replay I expected it. Looked like the T.O. was in fact barely in time.

At some point if the DB’s played the ball instead of the man maybe some of those huge PI calls don’t happen and are instead picks.

 

[James in PA]

Just to clear up some confusion from earlier in this thread: The Seahawks are the first team in NFL history to lose a game with 35-plus points and zero punts.

We made history!

Er, I mean, we made history.

 

[scutterhawk]

One of the points I was truing to get across, was that by cutting way back on the 'Instant Replay' so's to speed up the flow of the game, I get that, BUT, the downside to that is that it leaves the door ajar for errant calls/un-calls by Referees, or plays that really SHOULD be reviewed for FAIRNESS to BOTH sides = Level Playing Field.
As Rich Eisen said, "Hell, You Could Call Holding On Every Play".
And yes, I agree, Wollen has been playing pretty handsy this year, and I believe as good as Witherspoon is playing, I think they are playing him out of position...I think he should be playing outside, or even more of a Safety role, and YES THEY SHOULD ABSOLUTELY be playing more Ball/Zone.
Quarterbacks are using Wollen's Over the top Handsiness (if that's even a word) as a sure fire way to get a free pass for a first down, in fact, it's probably a play that is in their Game Film Playbook when playing the Seahawks.

 

[RiverDog]

All the games that Riverdog quoted were teams which both never punted, so either they all ended in a tie or one of the teams that never had to punt, ultimately lost.
Or am I missing something?

Yeah, I don't know why so many otherwise intelligent people are missing the point of my post. The Seahawks-Cowboys game was only the 6th game in the history of the league where NEITHER team punted.

And had anyone actually read the linked story, they would have seen that one of the games was in the playoffs, where the game couldn't have ended in a tie.

 

[SeAhAwKeR4life]

They were gifted half the field on one call, which scored them a TD, and as I recall it was a very questionable PI. Then later there was the Wagner PI, which towards the end of the game, I see a Cowboy player do exactly the same thing to a Seahawk receiver, and no call...

The NFL just wanted the Cowboys to win, and they made that clear. The fact Dallas had as much yardage notwithstanding, it can be argued that the penalties on Dallas were not at as critical of times.