Watch: Bills miss FG opportunity after Sherman jumps offside, drills kicker

One of the more exciting halves of football came to an end Monday night in perhaps the most confusing way possible.

As the Buffalo Bills lined up for a field-goal attempt that would have brought them to within 8 points of the Seattle Seahawks at the break, Richard Sherman jumped offside and hit Dan Carpenter amid an effort to block the would-be kick attempt.

Sherman was called offside on the play, but not handed any sort of penalty for what appeared to be a flagrant late hit.

Though Carpenter appeared fine after a few moments, the fact that he was down on the field, and that the Bills had spent all three timeouts, meant he'd have to come out of the game for one play.

Rex Ryan was understandably furious on the Buffalo sideline.

Having just one place kicker on the roster, the Bills weren't about to trot anyone else out there for a field goal. As a result, the offense came back out for a quick spike to again stop the clock and get one play off before Carpenter was able to re-enter the game.

He promptly converted on the kick attempt that followed, but whistles had blown the play dead due to a delay of game violation by Buffalo.

After relinquishing the five yards they'd gained on Sherman's infraction, Carpenter pushed his final attempt to the right.

With the football community trying to piece together the events that may have robbed the Bills of an important three points, some quick confirmation of an error came down from Dean Blandino, the NFL's Senior Vice President of Officiating.

Such a crucial error coming in prime time of a tightly contested game is a less-than-ideal development for the NFL at a time where its officiating staffs are under particularly intense scrutiny.