Pete Carroll asked Neil deGrasse Tyson to explain why Russell Wilson’s lateral was actually backward

This may be the most Pete Carroll thing ever.

You can’t throw a forward lateral. Those are the rules. But Russell Wilson did throw one in the Seahawks’ Sunday night win over the Eagles, and now Pete Carroll is turning to the ultimate authority to prove that the lateral was, in fact, backward.

He’s bringing astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson into the conversation.

“As a matter of a fact, I have, in fact, already put in my calls to Neil deGrasse Tyson,” Carroll said on his weekly appearance on Seattle’s 710 ESPN radio. “We’re talking physics now. I’m serious. I’m going to get an explanation about why that was a backwards lateral so that everybody understands. Because the ball was traveling at the speed that Russell was traveling.”

The problem for Carroll is that this actually was a forward pass. It doesn’t look like it because of the camera angle and because Wilson keeps running at full speed after he tosses it. But Wilson released that ball around the 47-yard line. Running back Mike Davis grabbed it around the 48-yard line and took it for a 16-yard gain.

So the physics behind this don’t really matter here. That pass traveled 1 yard in a forward direction, and it’s a forward pass in the eyes of the NFL.

It still worked out just fine for the Seahawks. The Eagles didn’t challenge the play, and it resulted in a 17-yard gain for Seattle.

This isn’t the first time that deGrasse Tyson has been pulled in to talk physics and football with the Seahawks.

Honestly, he could be a football analyst.

We haven’t heard deGrasse Tyson’s take on Wilson’s forward lateral yet. But we’ll keep you posted.