Lions Lose in Dallas on Botched Call
Putting up a new thread and sharing the base information because a previous thread needed to be taken down.
Last night the NFL franchise with twice as many flagrantly controversial calls against them as the rest of the league combined picked up another that profoundly changes the Playoff picture.
Long versions of the events are available all over the internet. The short version is the Lions went for two after closing to within 1 point with a 2-minute drill touchdown and appeared to complete the conversion on a lob to LT Taylor Decker, who had reported as eligible. Unfortunately for the Lions the ref thought a different lineman had reported as eligible, gave the defense the wrong number. As of last night the referee in question was still falsely claiming the wrong lineman had reported. Due to the mix-up the officials flagged Detroit for an illegal formation and illegal touching.
Official sticking to his story, but there’s no way in hell Goff grabbed Taylor Decker by the arm, directed him to report, Decker went to official, official looked at him, and the Lions threw to Decker…but Decker didn’t report. It’s illogical. What’s logical is a ref being wrong. pic.twitter.com/VGP7cPoRH8
— Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) December 31, 2023
Video evidence shows the Lions handled it correctly:
ESPN just showed another angle. Jared Goff literally sends Taylor Decker and tells him to report as eligible. I mean…. Wow. https://t.co/5rJoI0AcJT pic.twitter.com/vuyQCmnJkY
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) December 31, 2023
Decker went up to the referee and reported himself an eligible receiver on the play. Dan Campbell claims he discussed the play with the officials before the game, and the other lineman says he never reported. Had the correct lineman been reported as eligible on the play the Lions were in a legal formation and the play would have counted.
Also every ref in the league has a history of questionable calls so it's not particularly relevant that this one does. Also also the Lions tried twice more for the conversion (the first after taking the penalty drew an offsides) and failed, and many more events in this game, including the Cowboys losing a fumble out of the endzone and Jourdan Lewis being absolutely boss, and a 92-yard touchdown that could have been a safety greatly influenced the outcome.
December 31st, 2023 at 2:31 PM ^
I wonder if not putting 15 minutes more wear on the players tire treads played into Campbell's decision. Would the wear and risk of injury for a 50/50 OT shot (vs maybe a 40/60 go-for-it shot) have been worth a 2 (or maybe 1) seed?
A Silver Lining may result in that the Lions may be locked into the 3 seed after today and get to rest their starters. If both Philly & SanFran win today, the Lions get the 3 seed no matter what.
Philly's up 21-6 at halftime vs the 3-12 Cardinals; SanFran's up 13-10 early in the 3rd at the 4-11 Commanders.
December 31st, 2023 at 12:15 PM ^
Definitely a bad call, wondering though if the Lions only sent Decker, the refs would not have screwed up. Then only one player to deal with, the ref even said the second person didn't have to report. I saw that teams send in two to confuse the defense, but the if the refs know that Decker is eligible, the Cowboys would have known that as well.
December 31st, 2023 at 12:56 PM ^
#70 should have just went to the huddle. No need to even go near the ref, hence not giving the ref a chance to be confused. It appears the ref sees 70 running in and "assumes" he is the eligible one since 68 was already in the game.
December 31st, 2023 at 1:29 PM ^
It was meant to fool the defenses eyes. That was why it was explained thoroughly by Campbell to the refs, as he stated, and why he of course, was then, so angry.
December 31st, 2023 at 12:26 PM ^
I'll also add that The NFL putting out some BS story about a missed tripping call (with Adam Schefter doing his sole job of repeating it verbatim like a good PR mouthpiece) in an attempt to show that Detroit shouldn't have even had a chance to win the game drives me insane. Detroit fans are mad because the Lions did what they were supposed to do and the refs just messed it up, not that some 50/50 call like tripping or even PI went against them. The latter happens in basically every game. But a guy coming to the ref, declaring himself eligible, that ref going to the defense and saying he was eligible, lining up properly and running the play as expected, then being told they didn't do any of that because the ref "didn't hear him" is a level of incompetence that shouldn't be thrust aside.
December 31st, 2023 at 11:21 PM ^
They also swallowed the whistle on a blatant DPI when AmonRa would’ve had the reception near the 15 under 1:00 to go. I haven’t heard a word about that play. Probably because the Lions scored despite that.
December 31st, 2023 at 12:39 PM ^
The Lions got hosed by refs in Dallas. AGAIN.
December 31st, 2023 at 12:41 PM ^
Here's a link to an article on ESPN which calls out the tripping infraction on Dallas' last drive - which says that Hutch should have been called for the tripping. And, it also contains information about the two point conversion.
December 31st, 2023 at 12:43 PM ^
I saw this live, and it’s clear the ref made a simple mistake. When 68 declared eligible, he ran away and reported it to the defense as 70 eligible. Regardless, on the play, Dallas is in position to defend 68 because 70 isn’t in an eligible position.
I haven’t seen anyone talk about the tripping penalty on the cowboys. The cowboys get the ball with 2:05 left. Detroit has two timeouts. So that’s three clock stoppages (2 min. warning and timeouts). On the first play, Dallas receives a personal foul, tripping. So 15 yards back, replay 1st down. Now, Dallas has the ball (1st and 25) with about 1:59 left on the clock. Only two clock stoppages though. That doesn’t seem like the right result. A team could ice a game by committing a penalty just before the warning like this. The cowboys came out throwing, so it ultimately didn’t matter.
The NFL made a mistake and should own up to it.
December 31st, 2023 at 2:43 PM ^
I don't see anything wrong with the timing after the 15 yard penalty. Detroit had the choice, focus on the time by declining, leaving the result at 2nd and 3 (3 yards away from game over), or take the yards (1st and 25) but have to replay the down.
The clock stopped after the penalty play at the two minute warning. Thus the Lions had to suffer three in-between downs on the remainder of series (given that they held) with two timeouts.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/playbyplay/_/gameId/401547624
Dallas threw on all three plays, resulting in two completions but a key incompletion on 2nd down, allowing the clock to be stopped for all three in-between downs. Eventually, the high percentage 42 yard FG was kicked by Dallas with a fortunate 1:41 remaining after Dallas had gained back 19 yards.
December 31st, 2023 at 12:55 PM ^
This game made me physically ill. Most mad I've been at a game since last year's CFP. Please Michigan make me whole.
December 31st, 2023 at 1:19 PM ^
Here's another brick in the wall of the NFL agenda: We heard a LOT about Cee Dee Lamb setting Dallas team records. Troy and Joe crowed about each moment - most receptions and most yards in a season. Meanwhile, LaPorta set an NFL record for most receptions for a rookie TE with 81, breaking the record of 80, and we heard crickets. Oh, sure, at the beginning of the game they talked about how close he was to reaching it. But Lamb got a countdown or a mention on nearly every catch about how he was closing on in team records. Who gives a crap about team records. LaPorta is the best EVER for a rookie TE, Cowboy, Lion or whoever.
This is just another instance of the NFL picking winners and losers.
December 31st, 2023 at 1:21 PM ^
Its amazing how much worse referees have become ever since the NFL/NBA really started to lean into narrative-driven seasons. Surely a coincidence.
December 31st, 2023 at 1:40 PM ^
That ref should be suspended for at least one game. He should also lose his job as head ref for at least a year. Move him to line judge.
It's obvious to the world that he is lying.
December 31st, 2023 at 2:20 PM ^
TIL Brad Allen is a liar
December 31st, 2023 at 2:33 PM ^
"Also the Lions tried twice more for the conversion (the first after taking the penalty drew an offsides) and failed, and many more events in this game, including the Cowboys losing a fumble out of the endzone and Jourdan Lewis being absolutely boss, and a 92-yard touchdown that could have been a safety greatly influenced the outcome."
All of us would freely grant that shit happens, and throughout games. But isn't this particular cock-up, which gave the Lions the win but saw it rescinded, the subject of the conversation? I never quite get this sorts of conversational gambit.
December 31st, 2023 at 2:37 PM ^
Here's a cool story bro:
Family friend is an NFL and former B1G referee. According to him, Roman Wilson's TD against TCU was exactly that, a TD.
December 31st, 2023 at 2:39 PM ^
It's 2024 and the multi-billion dollar NFL still has part time refs calling their games.
These same people are accountants, substitute teachers, bus drivers, barbers, etc. the other half of the year.
And that is NOT a knock on Accountants, Teachers, Bus Drivers, Barbers etc.
December 31st, 2023 at 2:44 PM ^
I dunno. It seems pretty clear that the refs botched the call. But I have to wonder about the wisdom of trying a gadget play on a game-deciding two-point conversion. I get the aggressiveness and daring, but it seems to me that this would be a situation where you should fall back on fundamentals. Just less things that can go wrong.
January 1st, 2024 at 12:06 AM ^
I dunno, sounds a bit like victim shaming.
December 31st, 2023 at 3:50 PM ^
And of course Arizona just walked into Philly as a double digit underdog and beat the Eagles.
December 31st, 2023 at 4:10 PM ^
Had the Lions beaten the Cowboys, they would have overtaken Philly for the 2nd seed even if the Eagles had won today based on common games. And with the Philly loss today, they would have locked in the 2nd seed. The Lions were tied 3-1 w Philly going into the Dallas game. Philly split with Dallas, and now is 4-2 in that tiebreaker. With Detroit's loss to Dallas, Detroit is now locked behind Philly in the tiebreaker at 3-2 in common games, while had the refs not blown it, Detroit would be locked ahead of Philly at 4-1. And Dallas would be out of the picture.
Now, Detroit needs to win and have both Dallas & Philly lose next week.
I doubt the beneficial scheduling will happen, but if Detroit were to play after Dallas and Philly, they'd know whether they were playing for anything next week.
December 31st, 2023 at 4:00 PM ^
Philly loses 35-31 at home to lowly Arizona, keeping an outside hope of a #2 seed alive for Detroit.
SanFran wins 27-10 at Washington, eliminating the Lions chance for #1.
December 31st, 2023 at 6:58 PM ^
It's appropriate to use the term "botch", because in many ways the NFL is like the WWE.
And the Lions are the jobbers, as they always have been.