There is a video on twitter taken from the Spanish coverage of the game and on that video you can clearly hear the ref announce #70 as eligible. He never mentions #68. I don't know if the Lions heard this or not but what it means is the refs announced to the Cowboys defense, and everyone else, that #70 was the eligible receiver and that meant the Cowboys did not have to worry about covering #68. Did the refs get it wrong? Who knows? The point is they announced it making it the official status of the players on the field.
Now to clear up some other misconceptions. #68 lined up on the end of the left side of the Lions offense. Contrary to what people are saying, he was NOT covered. There is a receiver next to him but he is off the LOS. He is not far off, but the refs are very lenient with that these days. He was far enough off to be considered in the backfield.
On the other side of the line #70 lines up inside another offensive lineman. He was covered by the offensive lineman who was ineligible AND a WR. If 70 was eligible as the refs announced this is an illegal formation. If #68 was eligible and #70 ineligible, this was a legal formation even though there were 3 ineligible players on the right side and only 1 on the left.
According to the rules, with 68 ineligible, and 70 eligible, the Lions committed illegal touching,, illegal formation, and ineligible man downfield. The refs called illegal touching. To them, it was illegal touching because 68 was ineligible. If they thought 70 reported as eligible then their call was exactly right.
So what happened? Before the game Campbell went to the refs and explained the play to them, he says. I imagine what he was explaining is that three linemen would approach them but only 1 would be eligible. Otherwise, what is there to explain? Players report as eligible to the refs all the time, but normally only 1 guys goes to the ref and reports. Was Campbell asking the refs to participate in a deception to fool the Cowboys? How could he do that? And why would the refs want to be part of that? Regardless, whether he explained it or not, the ineligible player still has to report to the refs before the play to be eligible. It is the players responsibility to make sure the refs understands his reporting. It is not the refs job to help deceive the Cowboys. Prior to that play, #68 and #58 were already on the field. #70 came in off the bench and ran up to the ref. Why? He says he didn't report or say anything? Then why was he going up to the refs? Same with #58? Again, this was to deceive the Cowboys defense. Instead, they deceived the refs and themselves.
It is an awful way to end a game, and I am fairly certain even if 68 did report correctly and the Cowboys were informed he was eligible, they play still would have worked because the Cowboys defense was on its heels at that point. They get the W, but as far as I am concerned they deserve a lot of criticism for the way they handled the end of the game on both offense and defense.
