Cowboys: Lions go off bashing officials but entirely miss the mark
In the aftermath of one of the most chaotic endings to a primetime NFL game this season, a lot has been made about refs seemingly helping out the Dallas Cowboys by flagging the Detroit Lions OT Taylor Decker for illegal touching on what would've been the game-winning touchdown catch for the visiting team. Instead of […]
In the aftermath of one of the most chaotic endings to a primetime NFL game this season, a lot has been made about refs seemingly helping out the Dallas Cowboys by flagging the Detroit Lions OT Taylor Decker for illegal touching on what would've been the game-winning touchdown catch for the visiting team.
Instead of a walk-off touchdown with a big-man touchdown, flags flew onto the field and the Lions had to run it again (twice because of a subsequent offsides from Micah Parsons) and this time, the Cowboys defense held its own. Score: 20-19, Cowboys.
The Lions have gone all-in putting the refs in blast postgame, which is more than understandable considering video evidence that shows Decker approaching officials before the play, which strongly suggests he did attempt to report as eligible.
As Football Zebras notes on Twitter, though, "(Skipper, OL #70) gives the signal and (official) Allen acknowledges with a point. (Decker) did not get a response from Allen. It is completely on the lineman to report directly and receive positive feedback from the referee."
After all, it's like a receiver pointing to the ref at the line of scrimmage to ensure he isn't offsides. It's on him to receive confirmation from the ref. Decker didn't. In the stadium, #70 was announced as eligible. #68 was not. The Lions should've caught it.
The video mentioned by Football Zebras directly shoots down Jared Goff's postgame comments where he said: "What I do know, and I don't know if I'll get fined for this. But I do know that Decker reported. I do know that Dan Skipper did not. And I do know that they said that Dan Skipper did."
Decker definitely tried to report and he thought he did, but never got confirmation from the official through a point nor was it announced on the field. Detroit is absolutely missing the mark with their bashing of the officials. Comprehensible but you can't argue with the fact that on the field, Decker was not confirmed as eligible.
And they played with fire, too. Decker is clearly trying to be cautious about the whole thing and the Lions are sending three linemen to the ref in an attempt to catch the Cowboys sleeping.
Dan Campbell was also visibly upset at the refs postgame, claiming in the presser that Decker did report and that he went over the details of the play pregame with the officiating crew.
Per the official postgame pool report, referee Brad Allen claimed Decker did not report but Skipper did. Even if it's an honest mistake from Allen where he didn't hear right, it goes back to players understanding they need to get feedback from the ref.
The video below was shown postgame on ESPN, where Troy Aikman apparently sides with the Lions. Overall, it was a very weird situation where you can see Decker approaching the ref, clearly showing he at least tried to report, but Allen doesn't appropriately point to him and it was Skipper who was announced (and pointed to) as eligible. The Lions are responsible for noticing something is wrong and they didn't.
It was an awesomely weird ending on "Monday Night Football" on a Saturday. And it was one where no team can be happy about how things went down.
But the Cowboys are now 11-5 and that's not a coincidence in the NFL. They remain one of the NFC's best and a legit contender for the Super Bowl. However, there's a lot to clean up as we enter January football.
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