Eight days from now marks 10 years since one of the strangest Sunday nights in modern NFL history. On October 23, 2016, at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, the Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals played to a 6-6 overtime tie. Neither team scored a touchdown. Both kickers made two field goals and missed one late, and the game ended when the overtime clock ran out.
The lasting image was not a catch or a run. It was Seattle middle linebacker Bobby Wagner sprinting from depth, clearing Arizona long snapper Aaron Brewer and blocking Chandler Catanzaro’s 39-yard field-goal try early in the second quarter. The leap was legal under the 2016 rules. Five months later, owners banned that running hurdle.
NFC West rivals, Sunday night, no touchdowns
Seattle entered 4-1. Arizona was 3-3. Both were chasing the NFC West, and the game kicked off on Sunday Night Football in front of 65,089 fans. Russell Wilson and Carson Palmer spent the night throwing without a single touchdown pass between them.
Arizona controlled the ball. The Cardinals ran 90 plays to Seattle’s 57, held the ball for 46 minutes and 21 seconds, and outgained the Seahawks 443 yards to 257. David Johnson carried 33 times for 113 yards. Palmer completed 29 of 49 passes for 342 yards. Seattle’s defense, led by Wagner’s 13 tackles, still kept Arizona out of the end zone. Both teams finished 0-for-2 in the red zone.
Wagner goes over the snapper
With 13:25 left in the second quarter and the score still 0-0, Catanzaro lined up a 39-yard try. Wagner had watched Brewer’s stance on film during the week and decided the snapper was low enough to clear. He timed the snap, leapt over Brewer, landed on his feet and got both hands on the kick. He also recovered the loose ball at the Seattle 31.
“I just saw him really low,” Wagner said afterward. “Something we’ve seen on film that he was really low and I felt like I could jump over him, so I tried it and it was a success.” He added the line that became the sound bite of the night: “I’ve been trying to tell you guys I was a basketball player first.”
Arizona coach Bruce Arians thought Wagner had landed on Brewer and threw a challenge flag. The play was not reviewable. Arians lost a timeout for the illegal challenge. Officiating chief Dean Blandino’s ruling that night: you have to land on the player for it to be a foul. The block stood.
That rule changed. In March 2017, owners unanimously passed an Eagles proposal that banned the running leap over the line on field goals and Tries. Our guide Leaping and leverage on kicks explained covers the 2026 text of Rule 12-3-1(o)–(s) and why the hurdle disappeared.
Four field goals and two late misses
Catanzaro finally put Arizona on the board with a 46-yard field goal with 3:11 left in the first half for a 3-0 lead. The third quarter stayed scoreless. Seattle’s breakthrough came after Tanner McEvoy blocked a Ryan Quigley punt late in the fourth; Stephen Hauschka tied the game 3-3 with a 40-yard kick with exactly 4:00 left in regulation.
Overtime used the modified sudden-death rules then in force for the regular season: both teams got a possession unless the first drive ended in a touchdown or a safety. Arizona won the toss, drove, and Catanzaro made a 45-yarder for a 6-3 lead with 11:23 left in the extra period. Seattle answered. Hauschka’s 36-yarder with 6:42 left made it 6-6.
Arizona then moved into position for the win. Catanzaro’s 24-yard try with 3:26 left hit the left upright and bounced away. Seattle got one last look. Hauschka’s 28-yard try with 11 seconds left sailed wide left. The overtime clock expired. Final: 6-6.
| Qtr | Time | Team | Score | SEA | ARI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 3:11 | ARI | Chandler Catanzaro 46-yard field goal | 0 | 3 |
| 4 | 4:00 | SEA | Stephen Hauschka 40-yard field goal | 3 | 3 |
| OT | 11:23 | ARI | Catanzaro 45-yard field goal | 3 | 6 |
| OT | 6:42 | SEA | Hauschka 36-yard field goal | 6 | 6 |
| Number | Detail |
|---|---|
| 6-6 | Final score after overtime; no touchdowns by either team |
| 0-for-2 / 0-for-2 | Red-zone touchdown rate, Seattle and Arizona |
| 46:21 to 28:39 | Time of possession, Arizona vs. Seattle |
| 443 to 257 | Total yards, Arizona vs. Seattle |
| 29/49, 342 | Carson Palmer’s line: 0 TD, 0 INT |
| 24/37, 225 | Russell Wilson’s line: 0 TD, 0 INT |
| 33 for 113 | David Johnson’s rushing line |
| 13 tackles, 1 block | Bobby Wagner’s defensive line |
| 2/4 and 2/3 | Catanzaro and Hauschka field-goal totals |
| 65,089 | Attendance at University of Phoenix Stadium |
What the tie meant
It was the first tie in Seahawks franchise history. Seattle left Glendale at 4-1-1. Arizona fell to 3-3-1. Both kept playing meaningful December football: Seattle finished 10-5-1, won the NFC West and reached the divisional round; Arizona finished 7-8-1 and missed the playoffs.
The leap lived longer than the final. Wagner’s hurdle, Kam Chancellor’s earlier leaps in the playoffs and a handful of other 2016 blocks pushed the Competition Committee to close the loophole. Today a defender who times the snap from depth and flies over the line on a field goal or Try is looking at a 15-yard leaping foul and an automatic first down.
Watch: the 6-6 night and Wagner’s leap
The condensed game below runs from the scoreless first half through the overtime misses that locked in the tie.
Wagner’s block over Brewer is the moment that later helped end the legal hurdle.
Related WhyNFL reading: Leaping and leverage on kicks explained, Illegal wedge and double-team blocks on kickoffs, NFL overtime: possession, scoring and the clock, Coach’s challenge and instant replay, Fair catch and punt rules. Team pages: Seahawks, Cardinals.
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