Video: Looks like 70 did report himself eligible and screwed up

[plymkr]

If I recall correctly the officials in that game missed some bad calls that went against the Cowboys too. I remember telling myself the Hitchens play evened it out.

Don’t forget that the week before the playoffs Suh (in the prime of his career) did a dirty play and got suspended. It took Goodell about 3 days to lift the suspension allowing him to play in the WC game against us. No one talks about that or the other calls that went against us that game.

One thing that is getting on my nerves a little bit is all the times Dallas got game swinging calls against us either in the playoffs or not, we have never had 2 additional plays to make up for it.

During the Dez no catch game. I don’t remember us getting 2 more chances to get the first down. What I have heard is we could have stopped Green Bay from scoring. There was still game left to be played. True. But the same thing has to be said here. The refs screwed up but Detroit had 2 more plays to get the conversion and failed. Then they had 23 seconds left to get the onside kick and didn’t get it.

 

[CT Dal Fan]

Don’t forget that the week before the playoffs Suh (in the prime of his career) did a dirty play and got suspended. It took Goodell about 3 days to lift the suspension allowing him to play in the WC game against us. No one talks about that or the other calls that went against us that game.

One thing that is getting on my nerves a little bit is all the times Dallas got game swinging calls against us either in the playoffs or not, we have never had 2 additional plays to make up for it.

During the Dez no catch game. I don’t remember us getting 2 more chances to get the first down. What I have heard is we could have stopped Green Bay from scoring. There was still game left to be played. True. But the same thing has to be said here. The refs screwed up but Detroit had 2 more plays to get the conversion and failed. Then they had 23 seconds left to get the onside kick and didn’t get it.

Excellent post. I also heard there were still four minutes left in the Packers game after the Dez non-catch. But nobody has any idea how the Packers would have handled the next drive if they were down 29-26 (assuming Dallas went for 2 and got it). Dallas might have gotten a turnover. Or anything.

Because as this game showed us, Mike McCarthy's late game time management leaves a lot to be desired and he was coaching Green Bay that season.......

 

[jazzcat22]

Skipper's job was to make the Cowboys think he was reporting while in actuality it was Decker behind him that was reporting. The Cowboys bought it. The problem is so did the officials.

It's not any more complicated than that.

The Cowboys and officials got it right. The Lions did not. It is as simple as that.

 

[CWR]

Well he did because he stuck his face mask out onto Pettigrew's hand and forced Pettigrew to pull his helmet down which caused him to be unable to catch the ball. Classic PI if I ever saw it.

Lol yeah the cryin Lions always ignore that. Just like they are ignoring everything surrounding this call, including the tripping penalty.

I use to say good for them, but not anymore. I'll actively root against the cry babies. Don't for one second think my calling them cry babies changes my mind on officiating, DEZ CAUGHT IT. lol

 

[ConstantReboot]

"hands up and in front of his chest" is one of the silliest takes on this I have seen. What he is doing while running is called jogging form. People do not jog with their hands to their side. With your description one must walk and not jog onto the football field because otherwise they are reporting as eligible.

Lets be very clear about that video. When 68 goes to report as eligible 70 is running onto the field. He is not even past the huddle when 68 is reporting. The ref saw 68 actively going up to the ref to report (a step beyond what you normally need to do as you can normally make eye contact with the ref and make the motion and he will nod but he was being extra cautious) and then instead of having the guy directly in front of him as the one reporting, he is having hte one jogging onto the field as the one reporting despite him clearly making no verbal effort to do so and the only hand motion is him jogging like a normal human.

This was a ref screwup not a Lions screwup. I do not know why there are so many on here who want to argue a common sense reality. This is like arguing the rain isnt so bad during a hurricane or, to bring it back to football, when we can clearly see both knees down before a fumble and someone goes "well clearly its out". It is obvious to everyone what happened. The NFL is looking like idiots trying to argue against what every single person saw. The NFL screwed up and there is nothing else to say. The fact that they are too afraid to own up to it is its own story and why this story will not die.

Call it a ref screw up or not, from the looks of the ref, he was clearly focused on #70 running out on the field and seems like he was reporting and totally ignoring #68. Which could mean that he didn't hear #68 report or that #68 failed to clearly report that he was eligible. People and the media are blaming the ref. But communications is a two way street. Number #68 said he reported but judging from the ref, it was clearly not heard.

So I'm arguing that the Lions trying to confuse the Cowboys, completely confused the refs instead. Causing this debacle to happen.

 

[rambo2]

And if there was No Tripping penalty on Hendershot the Cowboys would have scored or run out the clock! Simple…

That doesn't fit the ESPN agenda.

 

[Cowboyfanforlife]

It was also stated that #70 didnt have to report since he lined up in an ineligible position.......SO.....the question then is why was he running toward the referee to get his attention and make it a 3 bunch confusion? A classic Belicheat manuever and it failed miseralbly.....not to mention the tripping call on hendershot...

 

[krs1bro]

• Watch video of it. #70 has his hands up and in front of his chest for half his jog to the ref. Why? Because he probably started doing universal signal for eligibility. In most games guys swipe front of their jersey from somewhere and ref nods. Detroit outsmarted itself. #70 had been doing it all game. So Ref is looking for it again, but number 70 is not admitting it because the camera didn’t catch it on the front, but he started doing his same routine and then put his arms down. I didn’t realize this until watching Kurt Warner’s video below about the ref claiming #70 patted his stomach.
• The other critical piece is Aikman’s explanation of guys sometimes trying to be not obvious about it, in this case #68. He says it quietly, doesn’t spend too much time with ref although you can clearly see by his body language he is not sure if the ref picked it up. He looks back at 70, he is looking around, he doesn’t try to clear anything up. So again, the Lions outsmart themselves, it is NOT normal to see ANOTHER guy run out like that, and get the attention from the ref while TRUE guy is reporting.
• Sorry Lions fans, but NFL is spot on ruling it was your fault. You tried to fool everyone and only fooled your way out of the game. You fooled the ref who then fooled the Cowboys who didn’t bother covering #68.
• Video also does a good job showing why so many people thought it was illegal formation. It wasn’t. Just the camera angle you were looking at.

​

Wonder if and when one of the Lions player(s) will admit to this when they aren't playing for them anymore.......that entire scenario was completely sketch.

 

[Hawkeye19]

And if there was No Tripping penalty on Hendershot the Cowboys would have scored or run out the clock! Simple…

How is this point not brought up more?! Tripping gets called like 3 times a year… what a weird call and then zero replays on the live broadcast— at least that I can remember.

The NFL ABSOLUTELY needs to expand challenge rules to allow teams to challenge penalties (or non-calls) so that refs don’t have as much say in Ws and Ls

A penalty challenge goes to NY for a ruling— you get two challenges a game— and a third if your first two challenges were upheld.

Simple solution that doesn’t extend game time and preserves the integrity of the product on the field (at least a little bit lol)

 

[MarcusRock]

As Dean Blandino, and other ex-officials explained ....

This is part of what makes this whole kerfuffle so rich on these boards. Blandino also had a whole lot to say about a certain no-catch. Lol.

 

[RonnieT24]

How is this point not brought up more?! Tripping gets called like 3 times a year… what a weird call and then zero replays on the live broadcast— at least that I can remember.

The NFL ABSOLUTELY needs to expand challenge rules to allow teams to challenge penalties (or non-calls) so that refs don’t have as much say in Ws and Ls

A penalty challenge goes to NY for a ruling— you get two challenges a game— and a third if your first two challenges were upheld.

Simple solution that doesn’t extend game time and preserves the integrity of the product on the field (at least a little bit lol)

Easy. it doesn't bolster the narrative. They did show at least one replay of it though and Troy and Buck as well as the TV ref all acknowledged that the refs had gotten that one wrong.

 

[Kellsbells]

No one is mentioning the fact that the ref has to verbally announce who is eligible. If he said 70 instead of 68, why didn’t the Lions say “wait a minute” and call a timeout?

 

[mmohican29]

Well he did because he stuck his face mask out onto Pettigrew's hand and forced Pettigrew to pull his helmet down which caused him to be unable to catch the ball. Classic PI if I ever saw it.

"Forced Pettigrew to reach out and pull Hitchens' facemask"...

LOL

 

[805BoysInBlue]

At the end of the day, Dan Campbell had a chance to correct his wrong and chose to go for 2. Oh well.

 

[bsheeern]

Skipper's job was to make the Cowboys think he was reporting while in actuality it was Decker behind him that was reporting. The Cowboys bought it. The problem is so did the officials.

It's not any more complicated than that.

The cowboys Didn’t “Buy” anything. They were told who was eligible and 68 was not it. No need to cover a guy who can’t catch a pass. Plan and simple

 

[TequilaCowboy]

Just happy something went the Cowboys way....by hook or crook, a win is a win. We've seen enough go the other way.

 

[Kevinicus]

No one is mentioning the fact that the ref has to verbally announce who is eligible. If he said 70 instead of 68, why didn’t the Lions say “wait a minute” and call a timeout?

They didn't have a timeout.

 

[805BoysInBlue]

Cowboys had 2 defenders free to that side. Had they announced who was eligible I'm pretty sure they would've covered 68.

 

[RonnieT24]

They didn't have a timeout.

They would have been allowed one if they pointed out that they official had made an error. Officials stop the game to correct stuff all the time like when they fail to reset the play clock among other things.

 

[Risen Star]

The cowboys Didn’t “Buy” anything. They were told who was eligible and 68 was not it. No need to cover a guy who can’t catch a pass. Plan and simple

They fell for it hook, line and sinker.