Blandino- Refs would never take part in an effort to fool a team

[DripTooHard]

I never never never want to hear anything from Dean Blandino ever. He is behind the take away the Dez catch scam. I mute him if he's ever on TV. He started out as a comedian, then became VP of officiating for the NFL. Unqualified to speak officially, he is such a clown.

He is a spawn of the mafia. Just look at his last name.

 

[pentatwirl]

Too bad walking up and just saying "report" is not the proper protocol. What Skipper did is, and that's why Allen acknowledged him and not Decker. Two men can't report on one play. Once the ref establishes Skipper (who gave all the requisite visual cues) it's pretty much done.

Totally agree, just pointing out that Allen hears "report" coming from that direction, with no indication who it pertains to in a loud environment. Coupled with Skipper doing all the motions to report eligible, that reasonably would appear to Allen to meet any visual and verbal requirements for 70 to report.

 

[MarcusRock]

Right. There was no rule broken by what the players did. If we want to talk about it being shady, that's fine. But they expected the official to announce 68 as the player reporting, so they weren't asking the ref to keep that secret or participate in the deception. They were just counting on Dallas to not be paying attention.

Now, it's on the Lions that 68 and 70 tried to hide the intent by 68 not giving much of a hand signal and 70 giving an enthusiastic one even though he never reported. They were definitely trying to deceive the Cowboys, but not trying to break the rules (which is both saying that you report and giving the hand signal).

The clarification from the league didn't say Detroit violated a rule, just that it is up to the team to make clear to the official who is reporting. Campbell seemed to think he did that pregame, but you can't count on the officials in the heat of the moment to remember that or to accept one player weakly making the hand signal for reporting while another does a strong one, especially when he's the one who has been reporting throughout the game.

I think the only place where Detroit needs to be held accountable is blaming it on the official instead of just saying, "We needed to do a better job of reporting our intent." If 68 had given a more powerful hand signal and 70 had just done a weak one, Allen probably would have announced that 68 was eligible, and there would have been no issue.

Of course, maybe Campbell's initial conversation with the official could be considered an effort to employ the refs to deceive, but it depends on what all he said to them.

Yeah, Skipper ruined what was a good ploy. Just him running on the field late towards the other 2 players would have been enough.

 

[MarcusRock]

I think the argument could be made from Allen's perspective, he also got a verbal sign from the direction of the cluster of 3 linemen. Decker said he went up and just said "report". They're all wearing helmets in a loud stadium with 70 sprinting up doing the full motion to report eligible, and 68 subtly touching his tummy while Allen is already starting to move toward the Cowboys.

Yeah, but if Allen was confused he should have asked to be sure too so everything is square. I believe that's why the NFL put together the video and included the "it's not us, it's you" message that the player needs to make it clear. It still doesn't answer the physical AND verbal signal the video says to give that 68 appeared to do and where 70 maintains he didn't do the latter. That is one of the big unanswered questions here. NFL Films has field audio. Wonder if we'll ever hear it.

 

[MarcusRock]

Exactly. You are hoping someone(s) is just a little slow in processing.

I have watched multiple videos and have yet to hear any former coach, player, ex ref, analyst, journalist, etc., who didn't think Allen either blundered or at the least handled it poorly. That tells me this particular situation looked "odd" to people who have participated in or been around the "reporting" process for years.

Let's clean up things like this so everyone can enjoy the games without controversy hanging over the results. Also, and I can't stress this enough, you know we'll be on the wrong side of ruling sooner rather than later. I know darn well these same folks that are cool with this outcome would be livid that it happened to us.

Oh, during our losing streak the refs and the NFL were the most crooked people on the planet. But with this, all of a sudden they're completely trustworthy and did no wrong and it's all on Detroit, lol. It just makes it clear that those accusations were convenient excuses for losing and will resurface once we lose again. But this and the Philly game will exist as counter-evidence forever!

 

[DallasInDC]

So here is what should happen.

When a player reports as eligible. He is the only player to approach the ref. All other players must be at least 5 yards away. The player go to the official and gets his attention and makes a clear signal. This can even be accomplished in a hurry up situation without the risk of losing any ticks off the clock.

Better yet, the HC communicates it to the side judge...the side judge using headphones tells the head ref and he announces it to the defense and across the intercom.

 

[atlantacowboy]

The article is really about whether the NFL should have someone to come out after games and give the NFL's perspective on any controversial calls. The article argues that it would avoid the rush to conspiracy theories, like the refs had it out for the Lions, etc. But when Blandino had that job he was viewed as a shill, and there were some cases when it sure looked like he was a shill for the NFL and the refs. I think the NFL should come out and speak about controversial calls after games, but it has to be objective, not just to cover up for the refs. After all everyone can see the plays from 5 different angles in slow motion, high definition. There is not point in telling people their eyes have deceived them.

If they put someone in that position again, give him the full freedom to speak the truth as he sees it free of fear of consequences if he goes against the NFL. They can start with the tripping call on Hendershot and explain what happened there.

I think the NFL needs to do a better job explaining calls and acknowledge bad ones. I think they need a full time official at every game reviewing replays in real time to correct the worst calls/ no calls. If they can make time to dissect every catch on the sideline , they can make time to get rid of the phantom tripping calls.

 

[Calvin2Tony2Emmitt2Julius]

Just as Campbell called the fake punt, it showed a fear that they couldn't beat the Cowboys. So did the last play. Dan Campbell knew he couldn't beat the Cowboys straight up so He tried to cheat.

Good for him !!!!!! Cheatin ***

 

[MarionBarberThe4th]

There isn't a "proper" way to carry it out, when the ref tells the defense and announced to everyone who is eligible.

Dumb play design

What would be the outcry if they had announced 70 and didn't throw the flag when 68 caught it? Probably not a dang peep....

And honesty if you flip the roles I think everyone is jsut laughing at McCarthy and Dallas and wouldn’t defend us if we tried this goofball play

 

[irishline]

Nah, I actually liked the attempt. And it did fool one of our players unintentionally. You have 58 and 68 go together to report so the numbers look the same and sound the same when announced. Then you run in 70 late who's reported all game long as if he's reporting but not. Then line up 58 and 70 on the same side and line up the actual reporter on the other side. At that point, if the Cowboys cover the actual reporter, you know your backup options. If not, you carry through. The issue for the Lions is they had 70 run on like he usually does but also using the sign for reporting which he should not have because the ref saw that (and probably who it was) and went with it (but there was no verbal sign like the video they released said there needs to be). Our players heard 70 and put Bell on him. Then they shifted alignment and 70 became ineligible but Bell stayed with him unnecessarily so it took a man away from the defense. What they probably wanted was for confusion on Dallas to stay with either 70 or 58 and then throw to 68 on the other side, which is why they snapped quick with like 0:16 left on the play clock. They just fooled themselves in somehow not hearing that 70 was announced.

You do know that it is not just announced over the PA system correct? The official is suppose to go to the defense and specifically tell them who reported eligible. This is why Allen waked over and spoke with the Cowboys prior to announcing it on the PA. So the odds of confusion in that conversation go down dramatically as the defensive players themselves can ask for clarification between 58 and 68.

Not saying you are incorrect in your analysis, just that the PA announcement is really made for the crowd after the reporting from the offense and to the defense on the field (by an official). I really don't have a problem with Detroit trying, I just don't see how it was going to work at all give the rule. So not sure why you would even risk it (for the obvious reasons of what happened).

Edit: In fact its more probable that it would hurt the offense, as it did in this case. Because once you report the official just has to go inform the defense (as they did). Therefore, the only chance the offense has to hear if it worked (and who is officially eligible) would be to listed to the PA announcement. Apparently in this case, Detroit didn't. Or did and just thought when they complained the refs would change the call.

 

[MarcusRock]

You do know that it is not just announced over the PA system correct? The official is suppose to go to the defense and specifically tell them who reported eligible. This is why Allen waked over and spoke with the Cowboys prior to announcing it on the PA. So the odds of confusion in that conversation go down dramatically as the team itself can ask for clarification between 58 and 68.

Not saying you are incorrect in your analysis, just that the PA announcement is really made for the crowd after the reporting from the offense and to the defense on the field (by an official).

Yes, I know that. It's in the "reportgate" footage that will live in infamy (whenever someone says the refs are out to get us, lol).

 

[irishline]

Yes, I know that. It's in the "reportgate" footage that will live in infamy (whenever someone says the refs are out to get us, lol).

Haha. Sorry my friend, just they way you said that, I wasn't sure.

 

[lurkercowboy]

And honesty if you flip the roles I think everyone is jsut laughing at McCarthy and Dallas and wouldn’t defend us if we tried this goofball play

Do you mean goofball as in letting a running back play center?

 

[DandyDon52]

It’s not about the officials knowing about the play. It’s about the officials knowing about the pre-snap effort to confuse the Cowboys as to which of three different linemen were reporting as eligible. The Lions haven’t said that they reviewed the pre-snap shell game with the officials. So we asked Blandino if, in his experience, officials would ever go along with an effort by a team to confuse the defense as to which lineman will be eligible.​

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“If a coach told officials that, the officials would tell them they couldn’t do it,” Blandino said. “The referee would never go along with that and would make sure the defense knew exactly who was reporting.”​

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In other words, the insistence that coach Dan Campbell went over the play with the officials doesn’t matter. The problem arose from what happened before the play. And the Lions surely did not try to share that part of the plan with officials.​

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that doesnt make sense lol . Clearly the lions wanted decker to be eligible, so why did the refs report the other guy??
That is what killed the play, as lions thought decker had been reported.