NFL Blames Lions Not Refs

[Brax]

Read the post above. Allen was not part of any pre game discussion with Campbell. That was a lie. This debacle is squarely on the Lions. They had a full 25 second play clock to correct Allen when he announced 70 as eligible. No one on the Lions corrected the number to 68. They tried to deceive it and it backfired.

I guess Dan Campbell is a liar then watch his comments after the game

 

[DripTooHard]

I have no issue with them being slick about it. I wish we did. Bellicheat did it for years. It's not their fault the ref wasn't paying attention. But they confused him and that's on them. Cowboys fans shouldn't apologize for the refs foolery lol.

Refs aren’t to blame here, and no one besides Allen has any proof on which guy declared eligible. What we do know is that 70 was announced for the whole stadium to hear with a full 25 second play clock. If that was wrong, why didn’t Dan Campbell or someone on the Lions correct Allen?

 

[Centex]

For me the bottom line is this: the Lions had notice that the refs got it wrong when 70 was announced as eligible instead of 68, and took no action to stop the play by notifying the refs of their mistake.

 

[CowboyStar88]

Read the post above. Allen was not part of any pre game discussion with Campbell. That was a lie. This debacle is squarely on the Lions. They had a full 25 second play clock to correct Allen when he announced 70 as eligible. No one on the Lions corrected the number to 68. They tried to deceive it and it backfired.

All I saw on social media were people saying how could all those guys lie? Well it starts at the top, Dan Campbell lied as he led everyone to believe that HE had a conversation with Allen about the play when he in fact did not tell Allen before the game about the play. Therefore as I sit here those dudes get zero benefit of the doubt, so yes ALL of them lied.

 

[DripTooHard]

I guess Dan Campbell is a liar then watch his comments after the game

Tell me, what about that play would require a pre game conference with a ref? The actual play was cut and dry. Very simple.

 

[RomoIsGod]

Read the post above. Allen was not part of any pre game discussion with Campbell. That was a lie. This debacle is squarely on the Lions. They had a full 25 second play clock to correct Allen when he announced 70 as eligible. No one on the Lions corrected the number to 68. They tried to deceive it and it backfired.

exactly

 

[Hagman]

I guess Dan Campbell is a liar then watch his comments after the game

Yes, he is.

What's he going to do? Come out and say hep lanned all week to try to pull a fast one on the refs? Then be branded as a Bill Billicheat type l cheat for the rest of time? Nope. He was caught in his own snare and is trying to make the best of it by acting like the aggrieved party.
Thing is the league is on to his stunt, and will have zero sympathy from the refs and the league going forward

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Refs aren’t to blame here, and no one besides Allen has any proof on which guy declared eligible. What we do know is that 70 was announced for the whole stadium to hear with a full 25 second play clock. If that was wrong, why didn’t Dan Campbell or someone on the Lions correct Allen?

Because the plan is to catch the Cowboys off guard. If they step in and say "OH wait guys you said the wrong number" then the Cowboys would just defend the lineman and the play fails.

Refs for sure are to blame here. They screwed up. Lions "confused" them but it's not the Lions job to make sure the ref isn't confused. They have every right to be pissed but it's on them.

 

[Brax]

Tell me, what about that play would require a pre game conference with a ref? The actual play was cut and dry. Very simple.

Ask DC he’s the one who said it

 

[CalPolyTechnique]

I guess Dan Campbell is a liar then watch his comments after the game

No, he’s being coy. He said he went through it line by line but didn’t say who he went over it with.

 

[DripTooHard]

Yes, he is.

What's he going to do? Come out and say hep lanned all week to try to pull a fast one on the refs? Then be branded as a Bill Billicheat type l cheat for the rest of time? Nope. He was caught in his own snare and is trying to make the best of it by acting like the aggrieved party.
Thing is the league is on to his stunt, and will have zero sympathy from the refs and the league going forward

Basically no coach should ever expect the refs to help them deceive the other team. What a buffoon Campbell is!

 

[DFWJC]

“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/

You title is misleading and should say, “according to Mike Florio”…..
because the NFL DID blame the refs and demoted them from doing any Playoff games

 

[DripTooHard]

Because the plan is to catch the Cowboys off guard. If they step in and say "OH wait guys you said the wrong number" then the Cowboys would just defend the lineman and the play fails.

Refs for sure are to blame here. They screwed up. Lions "confused" them but it's not the Lions job to make sure the ref isn't confused. They have every right to be pissed but it's on them.

Again, do you know for a fact who actually declared eligible on that play? What if 70 actually did declare as Allen announced? Are the refs still to blame then?

 

[CowboyStar88]

Because the plan is to catch the Cowboys off guard. If they step in and say "OH wait guys you said the wrong number" then the Cowboys would just defend the lineman and the play fails.

Refs for sure are to blame here. They screwed up. Lions "confused" them but it's not the Lions job to make sure the ref isn't confused. They have every right to be pissed but it's on them.

Bull pucky bro, they heard the loud speaker like everyone else. They don’t get to ignore the mistake being made in realtime and cry after. They share just as much blame for not correcting the ref when he announced 70. They can blame themselves for trying to go with the defense of “we told” even though we heard you say different. That’s BS man.

 

[mardwin]

The NFL is being immature about this but typically they always do when it comes to officiating. At the end of the day he made an error. A mistake. No shame in making a mistake. It's when the NFL doesn't own up to it and in this case just making excuses. Lions tried to get cute and sneaky and it screwed them but it's not their job to officiate the game. They got screwed. That's become a part of the NFL though.

I don't cry for them because you make your own luck. You threw 2 interceptions. You didn't play well. Had you played better you wouldn't have needed that 2 point conversion that you didn't even need to begin with. Your coach could've bailed out and calmed things down but stuck with wanting to go for 2.

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.

 

[visionary]

Yeah but why would they though? The whole point is to be sneaky so the linemen is open like he was. It's to catch the defense off guard like they did.

LOL, understand the rule please. The ref HAS TO tell the defense which player is eligible. He cant tell them the wrong number. The Cowboys heard 70 and covered him. If the ref had heard 68, he would have told the Cowboys 68 and we would have covered 68 instead of 70 and the play would have blown up

Why is this so difficult to understand?

 

[Creeper]

The NFL got it right. The Lions wanted to deceive Dallas using the refs as part of their scheme. It failed and that is karma. They should not be involving the refs in a ruse to fool their opponents. The league should change the rules to prevent such a ruse. Only the player reporting as eligible should approach the ref and make a clear signal that he is going to play an eligible position.

But I love this line in the article: "So because the Lions drew up a play so good, it even confused the refs, they didn’t deserve to win a game they clearly won. But that’s just life as a Lions fan." It wasn't so good, it was deceptive to the point of almost cheating.

You have to laugh at sore-losers. What was so good about the play? It was an ordinary tackle eligible. The scheme was to deceive the Cowboys - which is not in the sprit of the rules which require the offense to notify the refs when an ineligible player plays an eligible position. The refs then notify the defense. Apparently Lions fans and sports writers think that it was fair for the refs to tell Dallas 70 was eligible while it was 68 that was actually eligible. That's why they did not correct the refs when they announced 70 was eligible. And think about this. They had 2 more chances to get that 2 point conversion. They failed. Their last attempt they had a TE open for a Score, compliments of a pick, and their QB threw an errant pass that was incomplete. Why is Goff not getting any grief over his poor throw?

 

[JW82]

I have no issue with them being slick about it. I wish we did. Bellicheat did it for years. It's not their fault the ref wasn't paying attention. But they confused him and that's on them. Cowboys fans shouldn't apologize for the refs foolery lol.

Agreed. The part that really annoys me is the talking heads who are acting like the play would have worked exactly the same if the refs gave the D the other number. They accounted for 70, not because of the Lions deception, but because THATS who they were told was eligible. Of course the play works when the D is told the wrong number.

We have people on here that think the secondary should cover receivers and every lineman on every play. LOL.

 

[CowboyStar88]

Refs aren’t to blame here, and no one besides Allen has any proof on which guy declared eligible. What we do know is that 70 was announced for the whole stadium to hear with a full 25 second play clock. If that was wrong, why didn’t Dan Campbell or someone on the Lions correct Allen?

Exactly!

 

[Proximo]

“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.”

This is exactly what really happened.
The whole premise of Detroits “trick” play was to fool the Cowboys by having #70 report as eligible throughout the game and then at the end switch it to #68 to catch them by surprise.

But it’s a dumb concept anyway since the referee has to announce who is declaring as eligible. So either they announce #68 and the defense accounts for him and he’s not open, OR they confuse the refs and end up with the result they got Saturday night.