Lance Easley

Lance Easley was a National Football League replacement referee during the 2012 referee lockout. Easley is widely known for what is considered the “Fail Mary Ref.” Easley earned the name on September 24, 2012 when he made a controversial call during the final play of the Green Bay Packers/ Seattle Seahawks game. On the final play of the game, Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson threw a Hal Mary pass to Golden Tate. At the same time that Tate got his hands on the ball, Packer’s safety M. D. Jennings got his hands on it too. They both maintained the same amount of contact with the ball. After the play, two officials, including Easley raised their hands to signal a touchdown. Back judge Derrick Rhone-Dunn waived to signal a stoppage of the clock. After review of the play, the final call was a touchdown, which brought on the controversy because there was a pass interference penalty that was not called. Two days after the call, an agreement was made between the NFL and NFL Referees Association to end the 2012 NFL referee lockout. To this day, Easley still feel that he made the right call with the touchdown.