Twitter: Referee Brad Allen on the 2 point conversion Illegal Touch call

[Reality]

According to the rules guy on the broadcast it was an illegal formation anyway. Reporting or not just changes the penalty, same end result.

https://cowboyszone.com/threads/ref...llegal-touch-call.519341/page-7#post-13271381

 

[VACowboy]

It's funny everyone is talking about the lineman eligibility call but not the blatantly incorrect call against Hendershot on the drive before. It would've been 2nd and 3. If the cowboys get a first down, they likely run out the clock, and the Lions never even get the ball back.

Yeah, selective outrage always cracks me up.

If that call had been made correctly (on Hutchinson) it would've been first and 10 Dallas on the Detroit 15 with two minutes to go and two TO's left for the Lions. Who knows. The Dallas O may have gotten another first down and/or stuck that ball in the endzone. At the very least it's 20-13 with Detroit at their own 25, no timeouts and less than a minute left.

 

[tm1119]

No, you are not required to run a route if you announce as eligible, but you do have to follow formation rules if you do so.

Reporting as eligible is the same as sending in an eligible receiver (#1-49 and #80-89 players) to play the position.

Thanks. Then I guess I don’t understand your original post about #70 reporting eligible and being covered. Sewell was already covered by the WR on the right being on the LOS. #70 being covered is irrelevant because he was playing OG on the play no? Just comes down to whether or not 68 reported or not.

And as far as saying the Lions had time to correct the referees mistake (if there was one)…we can all agree that if the Lions stop the play momentarily to make sure 68 is announced they might as well have also announced to the Cowboys “Hey, we’re throwing it to 68” right?

 

[DripTooHard]

This is worth a watch with the audio turned on. Note the play clock is at 25 seconds when 70 is announced as eligible. Detroit could and should have corrected the ref.

 

[KJJ]

If this happened to the Cowboys the fan base would be LIVID! They would be convinced the officiating crew intentionally cost the Cowboys the game.

 

[DripTooHard]

If this happened to the Cowboys the fan base would be LIVID! They would be convinced the officiating crew intentionally cost the Cowboys the game.

There was plenty wrong with the play calling and officiating in the last 2 minutes to leave the conspiracy theorists busy through next week.

 

[Cowboys22]

They're so fixated on eligibility, that there was a second flag for lining up.

Straight from the officials mouth. Multiple penalties on the Lions and no confusion as to who did and did not report as eligible. End of story. Pretty clear that the Lions were trying to create confusion and banking that the refs wouldn’t throw a flag. They tried to create the illusion that 68 reported but he didn’t.

 

[KJJ]

There was plenty wrong with the play calling and officiating in the last 2 minutes to leave the conspiracy theorists busy through next week.

The conspiracy theorists who think the league/officiating crews are against the Cowboys got shot down with that call.

 

[irishline]

OK ~ here is my spin. ( Yes, I am a local 13 year football referee). Want to 100% take away "grey" area. And before I say it, this was done years past and why not now? The referee ( white hat) would make the announcement, as he would a penalty, saying, "Number ### is reporting as an eligible receiver". This tells the entire stadium

This is worth a watch with the audio turned on. Note the play clock is at 25 seconds when 70 is announced as eligible. Detroit could and should have corrected the ref.

He did and it was. Clearly. See and listen to the post quoted above. And below.

 

[DripTooHard]

The conspiracy theorists who think officiating crews are against the Cowboys got shot down with that call.

That call should have never happened were it not for a questionable tripping penalty on Dallas and very questionable play calling by Dallas. Hence the conspiracy theories will live on.

 

[KJJ]

That call should have never happened were it not for a questionable tripping penalty on Dallas and very questionable play calling by Dallas. Hence the conspiracy theories will live on.

The conspiracy theorists will live on because they’re idiots. No matter how many calls go in our favor they’ll insist the league is bias against the Cowboys.

 

[Reality]

Thanks. Then I guess I don’t understand your original post about #70 reporting eligible and being covered. Sewell was already covered by the WR on the right being on the LOS. #70 being covered is irrelevant because he was playing OG on the play no? Just comes down to whether or not 68 reported or not.

And as far as saying the Lions had time to correct the referees mistake (if there was one)…we can all agree that if the Lions stop the play momentarily to make sure 68 is announced they might as well have also announced to the Cowboys “Hey, we’re throwing it to 68” right?

When a player reports as eligible, they are no longer an offensive linemen (regardless of where they line up).

The problem is that another linemen (eligible or not does not matter) covered #70 on the line by lining up on the line of scrimmage.

If the player to #70's right was also deemed eligible (reported or normal), they would have need to be back 1 or more yards away from the line of scrimmage.

if the player to #70's right was not deemed eligible (meaning a normal offensive linemen) then he is not allowed to line up outside of a receiver regardless of whether he's on the line of scrimmage or backed up 1 yard.

 

[DFWJC]

Thread Title Edit: Brad Allen*

Dude wrongly assumed when 70 came over he was again reporting
But this time he went overthere and did notreport. Instead, 68 reported

Allen blew it.

 

[buybuydandavis]

1) Two players cannot report as eligible on the same play.
2) 70 had already reported.
3) The ref is informing 68 that 70 had already reported which meant 68 could not be eligible.

Can you confirm these with a link?

Lots of relevant and detailed facts there.

 

[DFWJC]

When a player reports as eligible, they are no longer an offensive linemen (regardless of where they line up).

The problem is that another linemen (eligible or not does not matter) covered #70 on the line by lining up on the line of scrimmage.

If the player to #70's right was also deemed eligible (reported or normal), they would have need to be back 1 or more yards away from the line of scrimmage.

if the player to #70's right was not deemed eligible (meaning a normal offensive linemen) then he is not allowed to line up outside of a receiver regardless of whether he's on the line of scrimmage or backed up 1 yard.

But 70 didnt report
Allen just assumed, since he had earlier, he was reporting again.
This time he didnt and instead 68 reported but Allen mustve just assumed 70 and announced it that way.

 

[buybuydandavis]

There is no doubt that the Lions sent 3 linemen to the refs to deceive Dallas, but in doing so they was making the refs part of the deception. Why should the refs participate in a ruse like that? I have no idea if the refs had announced 68 as eligible would the Cowboys have stopped the play. The didn';t stop anything on that entire drive.

Good chance they could cover an olineman no matter how poorly you think they were playing.

 

[Reality]

And as far as saying the Lions had time to correct the referees mistake (if there was one)…we can all agree that if the Lions stop the play momentarily to make sure 68 is announced they might as well have also announced to the Cowboys “Hey, we’re throwing it to 68” right?

The NFL rules are designed to be fair to both the offense and defense.

That's why you cannot huddle with one player and then they run off the field and another run on the field before the play gets called because that is illegal substitution.

That is also why you see the referees delay the snap by standing between the quarterback and center for a few seconds when the offense substituted players and the defense has not yet done so.

The reason players have to report as eligible instead of everyone being eligible is because the linemen's numbers dictate to the defense what their role is.

If the non-eligible players report as eligible, then the defense has to be informed so they can change their defense if they want to account for it.

The Lions were likely hoping to confuse the Cowboys by sending three linemen to talk to the referee, but the referee walked over and told the defense (as they should) who was eligible (#70 in this case), so the defense planned for that.

Either through intention or incompetence, they tried to game the system and it backfired.

Had the referee understood #68 was eligible then he would have told the Cowboys defense who in turn would have had someone cover #68 in case he ran a route.

The media and non-Cowboys fans are ranting about the unfair conversion called back, but the reality is that it likely would have not worked had the referee announced #68 was eligible.

 

[Cowboys22]

But 70 didnt report
Allen just assumed, since he had earlier, he was reporting again.
This time he didnt and instead 68 reported but Allen mustve just assumed 70 and announced it that way.

Who says. The ref blantanly said 68 did not report but 70 did. How do you mistake that? The Lions purposely created the confusion and 68 obviously didn’t make it clear he was reporting.

 

[Reality]

But 70 didnt report
Allen just assumed, since he had earlier, he was reporting again.
This time he didnt and instead 68 reported but Allen mustve just assumed 70 and announced it that way.

This has been discussed several times in multiple threads. I never said the referee got it right.

The problem was three linemen approached the referee including one who ran from off the field straight at him, which is normally the one who is reporting as eligible in most cases because the other linemen who were already on the field are usually the ones playing normal linemen positions.

It is clear in hindsight the Lions wanted #68 (and maybe #70, that was never clarified by Campbell) as eligible, but they sent 3 players to the referree likely trying to confuse the defense and instead, they confused the referee.

 

[Big_C_KU]

This has been discussed several times in multiple threads. I never said the referee got it right.

The problem was three linemen approached the referee including one who ran from off the field straight at him, which is normally the one who is reporting as eligible in most cases because the other linemen who were already on the field are usually the ones playing normal linemen positions.

It is clear in hindsight the Lions wanted #68 (and maybe #70, that was never clarified by Campbell) as eligible, but they sent 3 players to the referree likely trying to confuse the defense and instead, they confused the referee.

Yeah it’s weird that Campbell never clarified that it wasn’t 2 guys reported but only 1. Just said that 2 guys can’t report eligible. I’m just guessing but think Lions plan was to report 2 guys eligible (looked like 68 rubbed his jersey number and 70 was doing the same as he was running over) then when Sewell motioned from slot to the line at RT it would make 70 ineligible canceling him out making 68 the 5th eligible receiver. When the ref only named 70 as eligible that made 68 ineligible.