Okay, maybe this is a stupid question, but can one of you serious football geeks can explain to me why the penalty was declined when the Seattle player bumped into Gostkowski's leg, about the middle of the first quarter. I was about halfway paying attention but it looked like a five-yard penalty was called. Then it was declined. I heard the color guy talking about how he thought it should be fifteen yards, but I guess I was sort of in the middle of a conversation with my wife about something or other and missed the gist of the comment.
I think the issue was that if they took the penalty, they'd re-kick the punt. While it would have been punted from a more advantageous spot, NE was pretty happy with where the existing punt landed, and the fact that there wasn't much of a return. So why bother re-kicking the punt, and erase what was already a pretty good one?
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