NFL Blames Lions Not Refs

[CowboyStar88]

So you don't think the refs talked about it prior to the game after Campbell told other refs what would take place on a two point conversion??? 68 left the huddle and went right up to the head ref and reported eligible, the video is clear, yet the dumb ref reported 70 was eligible, this is on the refs error

Let me offer you another scenario using only what DC said in his postgame, and some of the other facts that we know. He states the explanation given to him is you can’t have 2 players report as eligible. So 70 verbally states he’s eligible (has been doing it all game) 68 gives the “non-verbal” hands down the stomach eligible signal, so the ref announces 70 over the PA, and DC (previous convo with other refs says we’re thinking of running this play and gives a vague description) thinks we got them! Only to find out you can’t announce 2 players as eligible, and the guy who calls the penalty was the guy not involved with the meeting.

The way I see it is that both the refs and the Lions share equal blame here. That is my only issue with this entire thing. I hate the refs and how crappy they’ve been this year, but I just don’t see the justification in placing blame solely on them for this particular call.

 

[Cowboys22]

Exactly what I’ve been saying. The whole thing was planned deception and it started before the game when the Lions coaches huddled with the refs and set it all in motion. I have no doubt that 68 never really emphatically declared to the ref and 70 coming in late was all planned. I also have no doubt that 70 said or did something that made the ref think he was declaring. Detroits plan was to deceive everyone and argue after the fact creating enough doubt that the refs wouldn’t penalize them. A clear attempt to circumvent the rule that the defense must be told who is eligible. Clearly an attempt to cheat plain and simple. They got what they deserved. Kudos to the refs for not falling for it.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Why try to be “sneaky” when the ref has to alert the defense which player is eligible in the first place? Your pov doesn’t make sense on this one. They did too much and it backfired.

It’s not my PoV it’s just what I think the Lions were doing. Because the only thing that makes sense to me why the would do what they did is if they were trick everyone including the refs. It worked. What I don’t think they planned for was being called for a penalty for eligible receiver.

I don’t argue they had blame in this I just don’t think saying the refs were confused is a legit reason to say the refs don’t deserve their share of blame. This all comes from incompetence in officiating.

 

[pentatwirl]

But you HAVE to tell them to correct it or you risk drawing a flag for using an ineligible receiver. If the Lions were the only people in the whole stadium that knew #68 was eligible then the play was illegal. Is that really difficult to grasp? You can't mask it or hide it from the defense. Period. That's the rule. If you try it and get away with it.. good for you but if you get caught man up and say we tried to trick the other team and it backfired. I'd have more respect for them if they just did that.

They heard 70 was the eligible player. That’s where the lions should have screamed and cried it was supposed to be 68. Not after the fact.

Also, shouldn't the offense be required to correct the alleged referee error if it results in their play call being an illegal formation? In the play design, they have #58 move over to cover up #70 on the right side of the line before the snap. . They all heard #70 announced, and no one said anything about it being wrong before the snap. Set aside the deceptive play angle with #68 and assume they just ran it up the gut after the pre-snap motion... it'd be an illegal formation penalty, similar to ours against the Eagles in week 9. Seems like they would be getting much less sympathy in that scenario.

 

[Roadtrip635]

There was no error on that play. 3 linemen approached the ref, #70 was the last lineman to approach so he interpreted him as the eligible man and announced it. At that point the Lions thought they could had their cake and eat it too by throwing the ball to #68 that was not eligible and whine about it after the fact.

Something else that's being missed is the normal procedure of reporting to the ref. It's mentioned in the article and Warner and Mooch also broke it down, a lineman just doesn't say "report" like Decker did, they usually also swipe or rub the front of their jersey as a form of non-verbal communication, gotta remember it's loud on the field, with the ref to make sure he sees you're reporting and as a way of confirmation. Decker doesn't do that, he just says "report", while 70 is running onto the field he runs with his hands in front of him, not to his side. You can't tell from the angle but with his hands in front or on his jersey, it may have well looked like he was reporting.

Regardless it's still up to the Lions to be clear to the ref and they were not.

 

[gimmesix]

What’s bizarre is the very nature of the rule has the refs telling the defense which number(s) are eligible, so it’s literally impossible to fool the defense. That’s by design because it would be a ridiculously bush league thing to allow.

You're counting on them going by what they have seen instead of what they hear.

 

[Roadtrip635]

No. You're a very bad mind-reader.
I'd be angry of the stupidity of my coach who tried to pull such a simplistic stunt.
I know I would.

And even more pissed if MM went for 2 from the 7 and again from the 3.5 yd lines, while still in the running for the #1 seed. I'd be mad at the refs, but even more pissed if we just didn't take the xp after that and just force OT.

 

[gimmesix]

Something else that's being missed is the normal procedure of reporting to the ref. It's mentioned in the article and Warner and Mooch also broke it down, a lineman just doesn't say "report" like Decker did, they usually also swipe or rub the front of their jersey as a form of non-verbal communication, gotta remember it's loud on the field, with the ref to make sure he sees you're reporting and as a way of confirmation. Decker doesn't do that, he just says "report", while 70 is running onto the field he runs with his hands in front of him, not to his side. You can't tell from the angle but with his hands in front or on his jersey, it may have well looked like he was reporting.

Regardless it's still up to the Lions to be clear to the ref and they were not.

I think that was part of the deception attempt. They wanted Dallas to believe it was Skipper reporting while Decker was actually the one who said "Report," so they had Decker say it and Skipper do the non-verbal that the Cowboys would have seen. They just ended up confusing the official.

Detroit didn't want to be clear, which is why they had to communicate with the officiating crew ahead of the game on their "trick" play.

 

[MarcusRock]

That's it, my fellow ref defenders. Come over to the dark side. Didn't I tell y'all the refs are always blameless? Hahaha. Seeing the pivot is so rich.

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

“You’re not going to believe this, but the NFL is blaming the Lions for a blown call that cost them a win vs. the Cowboys on Saturday night.

According to Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, the NFL has no plans to change the rules on players reporting as eligible after Saturday night’s fiasco in Dallas. And it’s not placing blame on the refs.

“Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the NFL does not plan to change the procedure for players reporting as eligible. The league views the situation as an effort by the Lions to engage in deception and gamesmanship that backfired,” Florio said.

“Basically, the Lions wanted the Cowboys to think Skipper was reporting as eligible and that Decker was not. Which would have caused the Cowboys to cover Skipper, not Decker, when the play unfolded. The problem is that, in trying to confuse the Cowboys, the Lions confused Allen.”


Full Story Here:
https://www.clickondetroit.com/spor...call-on-2-point-play-vs-cowboys-not-the-refs/

good

 

[Clove]

“You’re not going to believe this, but the NFL is blaming the Lions for a blown call that cost them a win vs. the Cowboys on Saturday night.

According to Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, the NFL has no plans to change the rules on players reporting as eligible after Saturday night’s fiasco in Dallas. And it’s not placing blame on the refs.

“Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the NFL does not plan to change the procedure for players reporting as eligible. The league views the situation as an effort by the Lions to engage in deception and gamesmanship that backfired,” Florio said.

“Basically, the Lions wanted the Cowboys to think Skipper was reporting as eligible and that Decker was not. Which would have caused the Cowboys to cover Skipper, not Decker, when the play unfolded. The problem is that, in trying to confuse the Cowboys, the Lions confused Allen.”


Full Story Here:
https://www.clickondetroit.com/spor...call-on-2-point-play-vs-cowboys-not-the-refs/

The lions were trying to cheat and got caught with their hand in the cookie jar. If 68 heard them scream out 70 on the loud speaker, he should have corrected him. Case closed

 

[TheHerd]

You're counting on them going by what they have seen instead of what they hear.

I’m not counting on anything. The refs are obligated to tell the defense which ineligible numbers are eligible. So the defense can’t be tricked by whatever games Detroit was trying to play. The defense must be informed which players are eligible.

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

For those of you who don't want to read the entire artice you can scroll down to the part where Allen was NOT part of the pregame meeting with the coaches of both teams, so he was NOT aware of this potential play...so all the bs and inuendio DC and the Lions claim happened prior is a bunch of lies hiding the fact DC screwed up before hand, and trying to pull a fast one is just another mark on his stuipidity the entire game

Campbell is a dbag

 

[Roadtrip635]

But what they did worked lol. Now I don't know if they knew the result would be what it was but they effectively confused the Cowboys and the refs. That's why they were sneaky about it. Now what I don't know is if they thought they'd throw a flag on that play because of the confusion.

It only worked because the defense wasn't going to account for an ineligible player, why should they. In the defense's mind it's just an illegal OL downfield, which should have drawn a flag too, since he wasn't reported as eligible.

 

[gimmesix]

So you don't think the refs talked about it prior to the game after Campbell told other refs what would take place on a two point conversion??? 68 left the huddle and went right up to the head ref and reported eligible, the video is clear, yet the dumb ref reported 70 was eligible, this is on the refs error

I think both the team and the ref were at fault. It's hard to just blame the official when a) Skipper had been reporting as eligible throughout the game; b) Decker comes in and just says report when there are multiple linemen coming up to the official; and c) Skipper makes a motion that makes it look like he's reporting again. Yes, this official should have gotten it right, but it's understandable that how Detroit did it caused confusion since it was meant to confuse Dallas anyway.

 

[CanadianCowboysFan]

That's it, my fellow ref defenders. Come over to the dark side. Didn't I tell y'all the refs are always blameless? Hahaha. Seeing the pivot is so rich.

problem is in this case they are, Dunce Campbell is the one in the wrong

 

[Roadtrip635]

I assume that since Skipper had been reporting, Detroit was hoping that despite the number being announced, the defense would be paying attention to Skipper instead of Decker. The Lions has essentially been setting that up all game. They knew it would be announced, but they were trying to catch Dallas not paying attention to what was said but instead of what it had seen.

It just doesn't make sense in that situation, the ref walks over to the defense and tells them who is eligible. The game clock is stopped and have plenty of time to go over their assignments, maybe it's a different story with the clock running.

 

[gimmesix]

But what they did worked lol. Now I don't know if they knew the result would be what it was but they effectively confused the Cowboys and the refs. That's why they were sneaky about it. Now what I don't know is if they thought they'd throw a flag on that play because of the confusion.

I think they expected the right number to be called but for Dallas to be focused on Skipper since he had been the one coming in and reporting as eligible.

 

[CowboyStar88]

Something else that's being missed is the normal procedure of reporting to the ref. It's mentioned in the article and Warner and Mooch also broke it down, a lineman just doesn't say "report" like Decker did, they usually also swipe or rub the front of their jersey as a form of non-verbal communication, gotta remember it's loud on the field, with the ref to make sure he sees you're reporting and as a way of confirmation. Decker doesn't do that, he just says "report", while 70 is running onto the field he runs with his hands in front of him, not to his side. You can't tell from the angle but with his hands in front or on his jersey, it may have well looked like he was reporting.

Regardless it's still up to the Lions to be clear to the ref and they were not.

I think this is what led DC to state he was told you’re not allowed to have 2 players report as eligible in his PG. I think both 68 and 70 “reported” but one of them only used the verbal reporting, and since 70 had been reporting all game Allen deciphered it as 70 being reported as eligible, and which is why the Lions didn’t correct the announcement as they thought Allen acknowledged both as eligible with only one being announced over the PA.

 

[big dog cowboy]

You’re not going to believe this, but the NFL is blaming the Lions for a blown call

I do believe it because it's their fault!