Panthers, Seahawks both have history with Sunday’s referee

The Carolina Panthers and Seattle Seahawks will get a familiar referee for Sunday’s divisional round game.

Referee Tony Corrente and his playoff crew will officiate the game. He most recently had the Panthers in their 38-0 home romp of the Falcons that heard him leave his microphone on during the 2-minute warning.

But the Seahawks may be most familiar with Corrente. His crew, which has changed for the playoffs, called the Week 4 game between the Seahawks and Lions that saw an illegal bat of the ball go uncalled toward the end of the game.

Had the bat, by Seahawks linebacker K.J. Wright, been called by the back judge or overruled by Corrente, the Lions would have had the ball at the goal line with a chance to win the game.

He called Super Bowl XLI between the Colts and Bears, a game the Colts won against the Bears, who had Ron Rivera as the defensive coordinator. Corrente’s crew also had last year’s NFC Championship Game between the Packers and Seahawks.

One of the officials in the Week 14 Panthers’ win against the Falcons was overheard on Corrente’s mic calling backup quarterback Derek Anderson “Mr. 4 Inches.”

Anderson was inches shy of getting a first down near the end of the blowout, and a conversion would have meant the Panthers could drain the clock.

“We were 4 inches from going home!” one of the officials said into the hot mic.

This story was originally published January 14, 2016 at 4:54 PM with the headline "Panthers, Seahawks both have history with Sunday’s referee."