NFL Blames Lions Not Refs

[irishline]

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.

It is the Lions job, however, to make sure that the correct person is announced as eligible if they are planning on throwing to him since, per the rule, it is announced to the defense and stadium prior to the play. Or, as what happened, risk the penalty being called that was called.

They can try to confuse the other team as much as they would like, but if it affects what the officials are suppose to do by rule, they need to ensure it is corrected or face the consequences.

 

[mardwin]

From everything I've seen and read the ref assumed 70 was the one declaring based on what had been happening prior to the play. If there's proof of something else happening then I'll change my stance on that but it's clear to me the Lions were trying to catch everyone off guard including the Cowboys.....it worked except they confused the ref as well who screwed up.

Dallas wasn't confused they covered the eligible man. Stop with the BS that the play would have worked if the cover guy was going the cover the lineman.

 

[Sheepherder]

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.

What it boils down to is the Lions shot their own selves into the foot. I have no sympathy for them.

 

[RonnieT24]

If the teams were reversed you be saying the refs screwed Dallas again and the NFL is out to get Dallas. You know you would. You are so bent with hate and envy because Belichick won so much. Got news for you, all teams bend the rules for an advantage it’s always been that way.

This is true.. however when they get caught most teams and coaches admit their mistake and move on. Maybe Campbell will to at some point but I get he's too emotional right now to own his mistake. They tried to be clever and found out they weren't as clever as they thought. It happens..

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

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.

That's the mistake he made. He shouldn't assume 70 is the guy because he's running on the field. They say they said #68 reported. On film you can see Goff telling him to report.

 

[Jarv]

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

The liquor store guy.

 

[Plankton]

Yeah someone is flat out lying then either the NFL or Campbell. And to be honest....the NFL refuses to do anything but admit a mistake....they demoted this officiating crew but won't admit the mistakes they made lol.

There's a saying that goes "don't pay attention to what they say, pay attention to what they do."

The NFL is apparently downgrading this officiating crew, making them ineligible for post-season assignments. It doesn't matter if the NFL, through background channels, blames the Lions for the outcome. By downgrading the crew, and having this information come out the day after the game, their actions indicate that they blame the officiating crew.

My opinion? The Lions did try to be slick by having three linemen go to the referee at the same time, but they did have Decker report. Allen screwed it up, announced Skipper as reporting as eligible, and the Lions ran the play as they had designed it. While the Lions were privy to hearing the announcement over the PA as Skipper being eligible, they ran the play as they intended to anyway. This was all triggered by Allen messing up the eligible receiver.

 

[JW82]

Yeah that's CRAP. The Lions got an edge on that play because of the confusion lol. They won't admit it but it for sure was the case. Like you said the other lineman was covered that was actually reported.

ITs also worth noting there was what? 30 seconds left and we had 2 timeouts or 1? The game was not lover after this mistake lol.

Yup 23 seconds and I think 3 timeouts and the best kicker in the league.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

What it boils down to is the Lions shot their own selves into the foot. I have no sympathy for them.

They did. And I don't either. I'm just of the belief the refs screwed up but the Lions helped them in the screw up. Cowboys shouldn't apologize for anything. For one the game wasn't over even if they made the 2 point conversion. For 2, the Lions had 3 chances at a 2 point conversion. 3, could've easily kicked the field goal after the first 2 misses.

So no, no sympathy at all for them. They had so many outs and still failed.

 

[The Quest for Six]

The lions snapped the ball with the wrong guy eligible, dumb

The lions had the correct guy eligible(68), the refs just reported to the defense the wrong number eligible(70)

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

There's a saying that goes "don't pay attention to what they say, pay attention to what they do."

The NFL is apparently downgrading this officiating crew, making them ineligible for post-season assignments. It doesn't matter if the NFL, through background channels, blames the Lions for the outcome. By downgrading the crew, and having this information come out the day after the game, their actions indicate that they blame the officiating crew.

I agree. But don't insult your viewers or your fans. We all saw the errors...admit it and move on. Instead, they are acting like children.

 

[visionary]

I'm confused....where did I say I didn't understand the "rule"? I'm very aware of what the rule is. I'm telling you why they didn't correct the ref with the right number. Because of EXACTLY WHAT YOU SAID....because then the attention is on the number being called. IF 68 is reporting the Cowboys defense covers 68. The plan is to be as sneaky as possible and catch the defense off guard which they did. But the Lions didn't screw up here it was the ref who screwed up he reported the wrong number.

Are you sure you understand?

How exactly will you “be sneaky” when the ref HAS TO tell the defense 68 is eligible? How exactly are you hiding that fact?

 

[CowboyStar88]

But their argument is they gave them the right number. The refs announced the wrong number. Right or wrong that's their argument. It's exactly what Dan Campbell said on TV. "That's not the number we reported"....

Dan Campbell also said you can’t have 2 players report as eligible. I mean if we’re gonna hang on to what DC has to say maybe we include that as well. Why did he have 2 guys reporting as eligible? Isn’t that what he’s saying happened?

 

[mardwin]

That's the mistake he made. He shouldn't assume 70 is the guy because he's running on the field. They say they said #68 reported. On film you can see Goff telling him to report.

The ref got it right, tradition is for the lineman to report to the ref, #70 rushing to him gave that impression. Hence, F the Lions for being sneaky.

 

[Rayman70]

we can call this Dan Campbell crapped the bed -gate. He confused the refs,his own team,Dallas and the pundits that STILL think the Lions were screwed. Bottomline is, the formation was illegal which nullifies ANY AND ALL controversy, real or not. Turn the page. We won fair.

 

[RonnieT24]

But their argument is they gave them the right number. The refs announced the wrong number. Right or wrong that's their argument. It's exactly what Dan Campbell said on TV. "That's not the number we reported"....

Their argument is classic CYA-ing. If indeed the refs announced the wrong number then why didn't Dan Campbell run over to the ref and make them fix it when he heard the announcement like the rest of us. Why didn't one of the Lions coaches buzz down and say "Hey they didn't announce #68 that means he's not eligible! We need to tell the refs they got it wrong. " I'll tellya why.. Because the deception was intentional. They were hoping that the refs would fail to identify #68 so the Cowboys would not cover him. They didn't understand the damn rule. Or thought they'd found a loophole of some sort. They were wrong.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

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.

I mean they can share blame in it. They tried to be sneaky about it and it failed. But this is ultimately the refs problem. The ref screwed up.

 

[Hagman]

And I’m not a “woe is me, everything is different for the Cowboys” kind of guy, but if the teams were switched I guarantee you the sports world be laughing at the Cowboys for trying such a convuluted scheme that backfired.

Exactly like Zeke lining up at center.

AND....running up the middle with 14 seconds on the clock and no time outs.....and icing our own kicker...and 28 years of crap.
I'm the furthest thing from being a conspiracy guy. The main problem with conspiricies is that they assume much more intelligence on the part of the conspirators than is otherwise evident. My base assumption is that idiots and incompetents are involved.

 

[MarionBarberThe4th]

The lions had the correct guy eligible(68), the refs just reported to the defense the wrong number eligible(70)

That’s not how that works !
The report is the report

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Their argument is classic CYA-ing. If indeed the refs announced the wrong number then why didn't Dan Campbell run over to the ref and make them fix it when he heard the announcement like the rest of us. Why didn't one of the Lions coaches buzz down and say "Hey they didn't announce #68 that means he's not eligible! We need to tell the refs they got it wrong. " I'll tellya why.. Because the deception was intentional. They were hoping that the refs would fail to identify #68 so the Cowboys would not cover him. They didn't understand the damn rule. Or thought they'd found a loophole of some sort. They were wrong.

Because there's no edge. The whole point of the play is to get an edge on the defense. If you run over and tell them to correct the number there's no longer an edge and the play is a fail.

Of course the deception was intentional lol. That's my whole point. They attempted to deceive and it failed them. That's how these type of plays work. Because of deceit. Once you have to make a correction to your play due to the refs incompetence the play no longer works.