The San Francisco 49ers were able to escape last weekend with a 32-29 road win over the Seattle Seahawks, as they got a go-ahead field goal and forced a turnover on downs on the final drive of the game.
Well, it turns out there was an uncalled penalty for an illegal hit on the drive by Malik Mustapha, and he was fined $6,998 for a hit on a defenseless receiver.
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The hit came on 1st & 10 and the 50-yard line on Seattle’s final set of downs. The Seahawks had just gotten a 35-yard completion to Jaxon Smith-Njigba on the first play of the drive to set them up at midfield with 1:13 remaining in the game.
On the following play, Smith-Njigba was targeted on a slant, but a hard hit from Mustapha jarred the ball loose. Seattle would then have incompletions on second and third down, and their fourth-down completion came just a yard short, forcing a turnover on downs,
Well, the NFL deemed Mustapha’s hit ”a hit on a defenseless player’ when issuing the fine, although the play was not flagged for a penalty in real time.
Had that been called, Seattle may have had 1st & 10 at the 49ers 35-yard line with over a minute left, needing only a field goal to tie.
Instead, the 49ers are now 5-0, while the Seahawks are 3-3 following their loss to the Denver Broncos on Thursday Night Football.