Cowboys: Dan Campbell says what Lions fans won't about controversial game
Here are the facts: The Dallas Cowboys got their 11th win on Saturday night against the Detroit Lions in a game in which they had better third down efficiency, red zone efficiency, and the better passing game than their rival. But if you ask the majority of the NFL world, they won just because of […]
Here are the facts: The Dallas Cowboys got their 11th win on Saturday night against the Detroit Lions in a game in which they had better third down efficiency, red zone efficiency, and the better passing game than their rival.
But if you ask the majority of the NFL world, they won just because of the zebras officiating the game. It's been the talk on national TV. Many claim the Cowboys always have the refs on their side, which is hilarious when thinking about the fact that Micah Parsons has gone over 50 quarters of football without drawing a holding penalty.
Not even Lions head coach Dan Campbell agrees with that way of seeing things.
"No, don't do that," Campbell said on Monday when asked about Lions fans acting as if the NFL robbed them from a win. "I get it, but don't do that. Don't buy into that, don't live in that world, man. It will just pull you down. If it makes you feel any better, the NFL is against every team. Because look, I was in New Orleans so I know what that feels like."
But that was only a part of Campbell's message. The reality is they lost the game for many other reasons, too. And he said what fans won't in his press conference.
"We gave up a couple of critical third downs on defense, we should've gotten off the field, we didn't do it," the Lions head coach admitted. "CeeDee got after us a little bit. And then offensively, third downs killed us. We were in manageable situations but we never found a rhythm. (…) We had plays to make and we didn't make them."
As for the controversial call, Campbell explained he drew the play on a piece of paper for the officials before the game and confirmed he couldn't do anything about the fact that officials had (likely incorrectly) identified the wrong lineman as eligible because he had no timeouts and AT&T Stadium was extremely loud.
Let's end this conversation right here: The Lions played with fire by wanting to send three linemen to the ref to confuse the defense and in the heat of battle, they confused the ref. And sure, that doesn't change the fact that officials messed up. But the Cowboys also caught a bad officiating break the drive before which led to the Lions' final touchdown drive in the first place (you can read about that below). And ultimately, there were 58 more minutes of football in which Detroit could've won the game.
That's football. And no one should be pretending like they were criminally robbed of a win because they weren't. Being upset is fair. Acting as if it was the biggest officiating mess-up the game has ever been is a bit much.
Video evidence proves Cowboys were wronged before Lions
Don’t get it twisted.
