The impact of the Lions fail controversial two-point play

[Aven8]

Even has he reported he still covered up the Tackle which would have been a penalty.

 

[jazzcat22]

One lucky play has changed the dynamics of our postseason. Without it, we lose, with little or no chance to win the division and no home playoff games. But here we are, divisional champs and two wins away from the NFCCG.

However, we still beat Washington, and Giants beat Philly. We would still have won the NFCE, but be 3rd seed instead of 2nd seed.

 

[CowboyFrog]

Its pretty simple i think we would've covered the guy the refs said was eligible..you know like we did....

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

One lucky play has changed the dynamics of our postseason. Without it, we lose, with little or no chance to win the division and no home playoff games. But here we are, divisional champs and two wins away from the NFCCG.

sorry, I won't call it a lucky play. it was a debacle by Lions who in the midst of trying to confuse the cowboys, confused the refs and themselves. not only that, the blatant missed tripping call should have never allowed them to be in that position anyway. so here we are. getting what's due to us. given there is 42 quarters of Parsons getting literally tackled to the ground and no holding call, but here we are.

so yeah. it wasn't luck. its how it played out. we deserved it.

 

[adamknite]

I haven’t heard anyone say no penalty should have been called. They say the ref obviously just messed up and announced the wrong player as eligible. I think everyone understands that once 70 was announced and they snapped the ball, what unfolded was numerous penalties that had no choice but to be enforced.

I don't know what you would call all the Lions and media whining about the situation, but to me it sure sounds like they are saying a penalty shouldn't have been called since they are saying the Lions were screwed and ignoring the fact that Cowboys covered the wrong guy because of the situation. Maybe we're interpreting that differently.

 

[CowboysFaninHouston]

Yep and we are likely 5th seed with a game ONE THE ROAD against the Bucs, instead of at home playing maybe a lesser opponent in the Packers.

yeah, imagine if the refs didn't call tripping penalty on Hendershot who was not guilty as clearly shown. imagine if they made the actual call on hutchinson and we added 15 yards on top of the 7 yards Pollard had gained. yeah. imagine that and we are still sitting @#2 seed.

 

[ActualCowboysFan]

The 2pt play with the shell game reporting was a gamble. The gamble was that the refs would not throw a flag on something that could conceivably be blamed on the officials in that spot. The Lions have been setting up this shell game for weeks with Skippers eligibility. No way Dallas didn’t pick up on it and their reaction to it confirms that DQ had coached them on it. They called him out, pointed him out and covered him.

The whole purpose of the confusion over eligibility being a huge surprise to the Lions after the play does not pass the smell test. They supposedly “went over the play before the game” and were planning it out for weeks in advance, but then in the heat of the moment they forgot to listen to who was announced eligible? That doesn’t make a lick of sense.

No the point of the play is you run the shell game, if someone is open, you throw it to them and hope they don’t throw a flag for ineligible down field in that spot. If no one is open you throw it to Decker and hope they don’t throw a flag for illegal touching. The only cost is moving five yards back on an extra point. Game theory wise it checks out but Campbell let his emotions get ahead of him and lost the game instead of taking his lumps and going into OT. But the idea that it was lucky or ref error is naive. This was intentional on their part. They didn’t think the refs would flag it and they misunderstood Allen’s minerals

 

[Dale]

What fascinates me about football - and sports in general - is the trickle-down effect of every little play.

The 2-point try understandably grabs the attention, but think of all the wild plays that occurred in that one game:

*Lamb fumbling at the 1
*A Lions defender whiffing on a safety and Dallas scoring from 92 uards
*Two diving Cowboys interceptions. What happens late if Wilson lets the ball hit the ground on his INT?
*Dak getting picked on a play where he might have thought he had a free play after the defender jumped
*The Hutchinson/Henderson penalty mixup

And that’s just a few of them.

 

[Proof]

Yeah, I tried pointing that out immediately after the game, but most non-Cowboys fans and even some Cowboys fans fail to understand that the reason the play actually worked was that the Cowboys had no idea #68 was eligible to run a route and much less catch a pass.

If they had known, they would have tried to cover him. The play may have worked or they may have scored a different way, but we have no idea because they intentionally confused the referee while trying to confuse the defense.

right j lew said as much after the game. “we were accounting for 70 because that’s who was reported”

 

[G2]

I hope these last two games were good practice for the cowboys on being prepared for trick plays and plays were the other team gambles. I mean first the Lions gamble on us and kept going for it and ran out of luck. Then the commodes kept trying their luck yesterday by going for it on 4th down. Maybe our guys will be more alert in the playoffs.

Washington tried all kinds a off formations too!

 

[BotchedLobotomy]

Seriously, It's time to put this thing to bed.

 

[Creeper]

The bigger what if is Campbell kicking the extra point instead of trying the silly trick 2 pt conversion. I think the NFL put that call to rest with the video they released showing #70 trotting out onto the field with his hand in the air and his other on his numbers as if he was signaling he is eligible. Even if 68 also reported as eligible, the Lions would have been flagged to illegal formation. At that point they could have kicked the extra point to tie the game and yet the stubbornly chose to go for 2 again. At that point they showed they were willing to lose the game if they failed, and they failed.

The refs had to call a penalty and they saw at least 2. I think there were 4. Illegal touching. Ineligible receiver downfield. Illegal formation on the left side. And illegal formation on the right side. How could the refs let all of that go after announcing to Dallas #70 was eligible on the play?

I still think the tripping call on Hendershot was a much bigger mistake with a much great impact on the game. If they pick up that flag the Cowboys are at the 22 needing 3 yards for a 1st down which would end the game. I have no doubt at the point McCarthy runs the ball twice hoping to get the 1st down, but there he does not have to worry about missing a FG and giving Detroit good field position. We will never know how it would have turned out but certainly the Cowboys burn at least another 55 seconds off the clock. I think the higher probability is Dallas gets the 1st down and takes a knee 3 times to end the game.

 

[mardwin]

Are we still talking about this crap?

 

[Manwiththeplan]

One lucky play has changed the dynamics of our postseason. Without it, we lose, with little or no chance to win the division and no home playoff games. But here we are, divisional champs and two wins away from the NFCCG.

I think it's an awfully big assumption that Philly would have won, had Dallas lost last week

 

[IceBowler]

that shows how one bad call can affect the outcomes of teams in the playoffs. esp this close to season end.
That play has been swept under the rug by goodell and nfl owners hmmm.
It affected the cowboys, eagles , and detroit. changed seeding for all 3.

and since the play was so convoluted and so many mistakes by refs, ny office, teams , coverage etc it makes it worse, and none of it will be corrected
for the future.
I watched the game again at the end there was no announcement on the audio (the pa)

There absolutely is an annoucement on the stadium PA. There is a video online with enhanced audio in which the naming of #70 is clearly heard.

 

[reddyuta]

Lions had the 2nd seed in their hands and blew it,all blame goes to their HC.

 

[IceBowler]

The 2pt play with the shell game reporting was a gamble. The gamble was that the refs would not throw a flag on something that could conceivably be blamed on the officials in that spot. The Lions have been setting up this shell game for weeks with Skippers eligibility. No way Dallas didn’t pick up on it and their reaction to it confirms that DQ had coached them on it. They called him out, pointed him out and covered him.

The whole purpose of the confusion over eligibility being a huge surprise to the Lions after the play does not pass the smell test. They supposedly “went over the play before the game” and were planning it out for weeks in advance, but then in the heat of the moment they forgot to listen to who was announced eligible? That doesn’t make a lick of sense.

No the point of the play is you run the shell game, if someone is open, you throw it to them and hope they don’t throw a flag for ineligible down field in that spot. If no one is open you throw it to Decker and hope they don’t throw a flag for illegal touching. The only cost is moving five yards back on an extra point. Game theory wise it checks out but Campbell let his emotions get ahead of him and lost the game instead of taking his lumps and going into OT. But the idea that it was lucky or ref error is naive. This was intentional on their part. They didn’t think the refs would flag it and they misunderstood Allen’s minerals

This is by far the most intelligent, well thought out response to what actually occurred.

 

[Bagman]

Teams defend formations.

Not players.

Wrong. Jordan Lewis said multiple times that he's responsible for the tackle eligible guy on a 2pt conversion attempt. He said he covered #70 after hearing that #70 was eligible. He was confused when #70 didn't go out for a pass but never left his coverage. He would have done the same if it was #68.

 

[kskboys]

The entire matter was quite simply the Lions being dumb. There's no point in discussing further who's at fault or what should've happened. The Lions screwed up, period.

 

[CowboyFrog]

Wrong. Jordan Lewis said multiple times that he's responsible for the tackle eligible guy on a 2pt conversion attempt. He said he covered #70 after hearing that #70 was eligible. He was confused when #70 didn't go out for a pass but never left his coverage. He would have done the same if it was #68.

its really this simple... anyone trying to make it anything else doesnt understand how the rule works..period, you cover the guy the refs declare as eligible..period there is no reason to cover any other OL because they cant catch a legal pass...