Dan Campbell wasn't confused. He was merely communicating what the referee told him.

Next week a player is gonna tackle a referee to the ground and yell REPORTING!!!!!!

Just a thought from a Cowboy fan. When Dez made the "catch" and the ref's got it wrong - everyone told us (the Cowboy fans) to shut up and get over it and move along. So... this goes down as a W in the Cowboy schedule and everyone should just "shut up and move along."

The debacle was when Hendershot was called for tripping giving the Lions another possession.

The Lions did it by the book and did nothing wrong. This is an outrage.

Rex Ryan didn’t hold back on the refs, I figured he will be in trouble now for speaking out.

They mentioned multiple times about #70 reporting as eligible all day but he had a snap count of 2 for that game, so he was only on field once before that play. The Lions tried to confuse the Cowboys with 3 players talking to the ref, instead they only confused the ref.

70 was not "reporting throughout the game". He is a backup lineman. That was his second snap of the game.

It’s not a “miscommunication”, it’s an F up by Allen.

Wow, even Cowher thinks it’s the players fault the ref doesn’t realize who is speaking to him? That’s disappointing to say the least.

Everyone try and keep up. The COACH said, a day later, he was trying to confuse the Cowboys (who is eligible??). The ref had TWO linemen declaring eligible (68 did NOT get confirmation from the ref) (70 who was declared eligible several times during the game came running up to the ref giving the 2 handed brush sign that he was eligible) the third player was there to Lord knows what except to add to the confusion. The ref went to the Cowboys and said 70 was to be eligible (because 70 declared eligible several times during the game). As coach Cower said, 68 failed to get the REF to acknowledge. The Lion's trickery failed. They also failed to score on the last play. Take your lumps coach.

There have been too many Sundays where we talk about officials instead of teams. This one single call changed the top of the entire NFC, this did not just affect the Lions. If the Lions win they take at least the #2 after the Philly loss. Who do you think Seattle and LA would rather play? Everyone has their take and, it's much more simple. The ref heard 68 but said 70 since 70 had been reporting all game long. He told the Cowboys 70, he has no choice but to throw the flag after the play is done, that's why the flags were so late. I'm quite sure the Cowboys instantly reminded him he said 70, even though he had 68 in his head. When you spend all game telling a team that 70 is eligible it's easy to say that number again by accident. This is reinforced by the fact that the coach went over the play with the ref before the game. He just said the wrong number by accident and because of that he had to throw the flag. You can't penalize the Cowboys because you told them the wrong number. I would rather him be a man and own up to it than be a coward and pretend he did not screw it up.

Bill should remember when his own player called heads and the official says tails.

Not the players job to make sure the Ref is doing there job correctly. If the player walks up and reports, He reported!

During crucial moments like these, devoted spectators eagerly observe the games, scrutinizing every close and decisive play. It deeply unsettles me to witness referees consistently making errors like this.

Even if there was a mistake, it got compounded by the fact that their second attempt was also nullified by a penalty, by that point the coach should’ve understood it’s not meant to be and just kick the extra point

So now players have to make sure the ref can see and hear. F’ing embarrassing. Treat refs like children from here on out.

Running damage control... what a joke

What is lost in all this is that Decker (forever in history #68) was screwed out of that rare moment of glory that lowly offensive linemen live for. On the other hand, Decker will always be remembered in NFL lore as the man that caused the tweaking of the ineligible reporting rule which WILL come up at the winter meetings.

I think the issue here is that the Lions were deliberately trying to confuse the Cowboy's defense by having 70 come running over to the referee *as though* he was about to report just like he had before even though he was not doing so this time. Unfortunately for the Lions, what was intended to be confusing to the Cowboy's defense was a bit too successful in that it confused the official as well. Should the official have been confused? Probably not. But must the Lions bear some responsibility for the confusion? Probably. The entire point of having linemen report is to *avoid* potential confusion. I think the Lions were trying to use this particular who-reported-and-who-didn't scenario to cause confusion, and it ended up biting them in the butt.

Are we just going to ignore the fact that Dan went over this with the refs pregame...?

I'm sure we'll have the Taylor Decker rule implemented next year just like the Calvin Johnson rule was. The Lions seem to be at the forefront of creating new NFL rules

Steratore (ex NFL ref) said it correctly. It was great gamesmanship by Lions. It was Brad Allen's fault for assuming. Decker said he was reporting, but Brad made an assumption it was 70.

Dallas defended as they were supposed to, having the ref declare 70 as eligible. If the ref would have declared 68 as eligible, they most likely would have adjusted to cover him like they DID cover 70. It's not a given that Detroit would have converted had the ref not made the blunder, but it was a bad blunder.

Every former ref I've seen speak on this has been high heart rate and super punch-backy to every criticism of this

When you have a huge sports betting influence things tend to go awry. 🤷

If they had called the tripping penalty correctly against the Lion player and not the Cowboy, this series of plays would have never happened. Dallas would have either scored or ran the clock out

I wish Dan Campbell would just kick the extra point to send the game into overtime instead of going for two. He could’ve saved himself and everyone else all the time and trouble.

Because of this, we're now going to have players screaming at the top of their lungs at refs to check in and then somehow that will end up being a penalty.

Bill Cowher blaming players for this somehow is absolutely brutal

It's not about the officials knowing about the play. It's about the officials knowing about the pre-snap effort to confuse the Cowboys as to which of three different linemen were reporting as eligible. The Lions haven't said that they reviewed the pre-snap shell game with the officials. So we asked Blandino if, in his experience, officials would ever go along with an effort by a team to confuse the defense as to which lineman will be eligible. "If a coach told officials that, the officials would tell them they couldn’t do it," Blandino said. "The referee would never go along with that and would make sure the defense knew exactly who was reporting." In other words, the insistence that coach Dan Campbell went over the play with the officials doesn't matter. The problem arose from what happened before the play. And the Lions surely did not try to share that part of the plan with officials.

Folks are missing the key point that *the play succeeded because of the ref's error* - the ref erroneously told the defense that 70 was eligible, so they ignored 68, which left him wide open for the pass.

It is the refs job not to be confused. These are not high school refs these are professionals that worked their way up the ladder to be in the NFL. This was a big game. If Brad Allen loses focus that is not the Lions fault. If 70 was reporting all game and then 68 reports then the ref needs to be listening. The NFL needs to review this and once again call out the officiating team. I certainly hope there will be an investigation into this. Campbell said we will see them again in a few weeks and it will be in Detroit. This is extra motivation for his players.

These guys 😂! Especially coach talking about Dan Campbell being confused with number? No he wasn’t confused he was talking about the explanation the ref gave. SMH

I completely agree with Nate. The referee needs to do a post game press conference just like coaches and players. Not to beat them up, but they need to give an account so the fans have an understanding about what happened.

68's responsibility isn't to make sure the ref knows how to do his job. He did what he needed to do.

“But they should’ve been more clear.” how do you defend the ref in this situation? It’s not the lions job to baby the ref like he’s a kindergartener. Maybe he should learn how to do his job because this looks like a rigged ending with that call

Boomer bro, The second flag was thrown because 70 was covered after "reporting eligible" But it was 68 who reported as eligible. Both flags were due to the refs mistake.

Decker DID make eye contact and the ref acknowledged him. Whether or not there was confusion, ultimately the responsibility lands on the referees. And the reffing crew knew before the game about the play.

Yes, Detroit got screwed by the ref's mistake. But let's not forget that following the penalty against the Lions in which the ball was moved back 5 yards, Dan Campbell should have cut his losses and had his team kick the extra point to tie the score, then try to win the game in overtime. Instead he had them go for the 2-point conversion TWO MORE TIMES.

So everyone is to blame except for the white hat… who should have taken his time to get it right! This was an untimed down, just wow. Where is the accountability?!

NFL wasn't going the let Detroit ruin Jimmy's going into the ring of honor game. Nothing to see here folks. Keep it moving.

68 didn’t visually notify by raising arm and patting chest as is required by tackle eligibility rules plain and simple. 70 runs on the field doing it and the ref saw that and declared him and announced over the PA with plenty of time for Campbell or the players to say wait 68 is the tackle eligible . They tried to be tricky and got caught

There is audio and the Lions never corrected it.

The Lions had to make sure the refs didn't F up???? That's the take? Lol

Former NCAA official here: This is 100% on the ref. The ref blew it. Please stop with "the player should have done a better job." When you sign-up to ref @ the pro level you sign-up for another level of excellence. Time to publish the Vegas odds and over/under by quarter before, during and post-game!

Anyone forgeting about the tripping call against the Cowboys which was really against Detroit? That blown call would have sealed the game for the Cowboys.

If you go back to the replay, about 2 seconds before the start of the replay they show here and from a different angle you see #70 running onto the field signaling that he is reporting as eligible. The ref looks and points at him just as this replay starts and #70 drops his arms down (you can see the arms drop and the official pointing in this replay) and the two other players (58 & 68) are not yet close to the ref. The refs job at that point is to immediately go over to the defense and tell them the reporting player (70) so that the defense has time to make an adjustment (which they do and #2 goes out and another player comes on) and then the ref announced to the stadium that #70 is eligible. The Lions sideline had to hear that announcement and could have corrected it, but they didn't. The refs did not miss any call here, they weren't confused, they did exactly what they were supposed to do when a player comes on the field signaling that he is eligible. If anyone screwed up here it was #70 coming on the field signaling he was eligible, or the Lions coaches not telling #70 he wasn't going to be eligible on this play. But also #68 didn't make sure he was reported to the ref. If you watch the play you can see that Cowboys #4 is covering #70 waiting for him to go out and noone covers #68 because he is ineligible. That is the only reason the play worked like it did. This is why there were 2 penalties called on the play: Illegal Touching #68, and Illegal Formation #70. I don't understand how these guys can study the play and not see this unless the only thing they looked at was this camera angle.

Idk why they keep saying the ref didn’t see 68. That his eyes were only on 70. You can clearly see him look at 68 and acknowledge 68.

Lots of "we want to maintain our good relationship with the league" takes from the major media players.

Let's get this straight....the Lions would never have had a chance at that last drive if the officials FIRST hadn't called that BS tripping call on Hendershot. But no one is talking about that bad call. Lions were gifted a chance to win. If it was the other way around everyone would be saying how the Cowboys should have never allowed it to be that close and how they should have closed the game out indefinitely so it doesn't come down to a "decision" win. Goal posts are always moved when it comes to the Cowboys.

Dan Campbell was NOT CONFUSED after the game. He was reciting the EXPLANATION the ref GAVE HIM after screwing up the call.

This is the best thing to happen to the lions before the playoffs start. Mark my words, this is the chip on their shoulder they needed.

Yes, the ref messed up, but it didn't really matter to the outcome of the game. They had to replay it. You can't just give them 2 free points when the Cowboys aren't told 68 is eligible. That would be infinitely worse than what did happen. The Lions SHOULD have taken it as an omen and kicked the extra point.

1. Illegal Formation if not Illegal Touching. 2. There's no audio proving he said reporting. 3. In every single clip they show, Decker never brushes his chest. His arms stay at his side. 4. Detroit was only in that position because they refs called Tripping on the wrong team. 5. They were given 3 attempts at scoring, due to drawing Parsons offsides. 6. The choice to take a Field Goal and go into Overtime and attempt to win there was always an option. 7. It was announced throughout the entire stadium that #70 was reported as eligible. There was never a call for #68. There were a lot of factors that took place, but this one penalty should not have even been a discussion, as the game would have been over had the Tripping penalty been called appropriately. Detroit Fans, feel free to be upset - but stop misdirecting your anger at the refs. Both teams had a bad call against them within the last 2 minutes of the game. If Dallas was in that position and this happened to them - You know your entire fan base, as well as the Media would be mocking them endlessly over the course of this week. The fact that everyone is up in arms truly goes to show the double standards that exist within this league when it comes to winning and losing.

Notice the ref added extra info to his answer. When asked, "Why was a penalty called on the 2 pt conver...?" (Only asked about 1 play.) Allen said, "#70, who had reported a couple times during the game..." ~Prior plays have nothing to do with this 1 play. IMO it shows the ref was thinking #70 regardless of who reported.

The League will shield officiating every time. No comments, no explanations, no accepting responsibility for a glaring mistake. Cowboys bias on Jimmy's day in Jerry's house or not, the ref flat blew this call badly. Megatron is shaking his head somewhere right now.

This is gonna be the most rewatched video taking place in Dallas since the Zapruder film.

New video released by the NFL on reporting after the game shows how Skipper was registered as reporting and Decker wasn't. All game, Skipper had been the only one reporting, and every time, he ran off the sidelines toward the official with his left arm raised and right arm tapping his chest(as that is a universal symbol for reporting), and every time the ref recognized it as him reporting, because he was. On the 2pt play, he did the EXACT SAME THING(as another video angle shows), and the ref DID turn and see him running in before Decker ever got close to the ref. Skipper was recognized as eligible before Decker ever got to him because that was how Skipper had been reporting ALL game.

Dallas was also told that 68 was ineligible to be covered as a reciever. Anything could have happened. The assumption is that they got the touchdown free and clear. No one covered him because he was a lineman

This is disgusting, huge blown call, blamed on the player who reported as he was supposed to. Playoff seed changing blown call, and the NFL will either ignore this, or more disgustingly, defend the official.

How many games does this crew have to ruin before the shield does something, oh wait. Dumb question, Fuck the shield

In short, the referees fucked up by not listening to the right player, costing the Detroit Lions, the game

Big Bill, defending a guy who never looked at 68 while standing in front of him, but acknowledged 70, who was half a field away.

Decker said he said REPORT and that's the way they practiced it all week and what coach told him to do. But seeing that the ref really didn't look at him and got him confused with 70 it might have been better to say 68 REPORTING to avoid any confusion. A real shame and a huge blow to the Lions reaching the promised land.

Watching them try to defend the ref is laughable. Detroit literally did everything right

This is not on the players, Brad Allen needs to be held accountable for his mistake, but yet the NFL puts his crew on national television this week between the Steelers and Ravens smh. Allen started running toward the Cowboys DL before Skipper even got to him, so wtf was Allen's thinking during that time? doesn't he hear a voice saying reporting coming in front of him yet looks right at Skipper who's lips were probably not moving? NFL should be ashamed of themselves for allowing Brad Allens crew to continuously go out their and determine the outcome of games. I get it is a "judgment call" in certain circumstances, but Allen and his crew are just plain stupid at this point.

I don’t understand why Dallas was passing, especially after their last first down, instead of running the ball. They had somewhere around 3 minutes left on the clock, if I remember right the Lions didn’t have anymore timeouts, yet they continued to pass stopping the clock at every incompletion while they were in the lead. Run the clock out and we don’t have the controversy. If the Lions would’ve went for the extra point after the penalty who knows who would’ve won in overtime. 🤦‍♂️

Dan Campbell went through this play with the official before the game.

I’m not a fan of either team..something was incredibly wrong there. To much video proof. Refs are in someone’s wallets ✋🏼🎤

I love how you left out the part where Dan Campbell told the refs in detail about this play before the game. 🙄

Love how the tripping call never gets talked about. That was the real debacle

I remember in the past hearing that eligible players were announced by the referee over the p.a. system

You can break it down all you want, the fact is lions got robbed. Also it took 16 seconds before the flag was thrown, never ever does it take 16 seconds to throw a flag

Dan Skipper (70) only played 2 out of 69 offensive plays in the game before this play. So it’s not as if he was reporting all day long.

Players never said the number who is reporting as eligible. 68 just said "reporting", 70 was running towards the ref from the sideline.

Detroit was too deceptive…tricked the ref too 😂

Lions WON, but Dallas gets the W because the ref didn't do his job PERIOD! Absolute BS that is incredibly consequential for the postseason ...

Why has no one addressed the fact that the ref announced the incorrect player over the intercom, at which time the Lions should have called timeout realizing that the ref told everyone in the stadium that the wrong player is eligible?

The reason a Player has to make a hand gesture & verbally communicate to the Ref is- the hand gesture will be on video. Case Closed. Lions tried some sneaky shit and got caught.

Im 32, life long steelers fan. Watched Bill cowher for years, love the guy. Bill cowhers is a sellout, didnt apeak the truth and EVERYONE knows it.

Go watch the replay of the tripping call on Dallas . It was actually Hutchinson that was trying to trip pollard. Complete blown call . And should of been 15 yards the other way. Media doesn’t want to talk about that.

Looking at the video replay I think 68 dd the right thing and reported but 70 was running up behind him so when the referee nodded and said ok, he(68) thought it was for him but it actually was for 70. At least that's what i think.

If everyone was saying you only walk over to the ref if you are reporting, why did 3 people walk over, including one that has been reporting all game?

You have to love all of the word salad side stepping player-blaming and when you get right down to it, the answer is Detroit did nothing wrong.

The lions thought they were gonna confuse the cowboys. They ended up confusing the refs.

The ref usually goes on the intercom saying who’s eligible. Where was that?

Sorry, the onus is on the offence to make sure they report correctly, the fact Skipper runs directly to the ref as Dekker shouts “reporting, reporting” was an attempt at confusion, if they wanted to avoid it he should shout 68 reporting. Dekker had not reported eligible all game but at that moment does its the moment Skipper who had been reporting all game runs to the ref as well. Brad Allen looks at Skipper as the reporting shout comes and he announces 70 eligible, why didn’t Detroit correct the ref? As much as Brad Allen might have made a mistake, Detroit were as guilty of try to confuse and they got burnt. However they then had 2 further chances to kick the PAT but elect to continue going for the 2-point I have no sympathy.

Ref clearly speaks and nods to Decker. Don't blame the players. This has been done a million times without confusion. Players can't know what ref may or may not be thinking.

And the Tripping call that wasn't against Dallas when it was Tripping by a Detroit Defensive Lineman that allowed Detroit to even get the Ball is an OUTRAGE!! Crickets! 👂

Dan Campbell never went over it with the ref. By all accounts I've seen, the ref wasn't in the meeting. He might have explained it to an umpire or someone else on that officiating team, but the person who needed to know he did not actually talk to. He trusted somoene else to relay it.

Now do a breakdown of the trip they called on dallas but was clearer than my positive hiv test, that a lion player tried to trip pollard. None of this happens if they get that call right because dallas either runs the clock out or attempts a field goal with a guy who hasnt missed all year long

Glad to hear these officials at the very least will not be officiating playoff games this year. That's a win not just for the lions but for everyone in the playoffs this year. You want the best officials in place for the playoffs and Brad Allen and his crew rightfully are not on the playoff officiating team. The main thing for Roger Goodell and the nfl is that this is embarrassing for the nfl, because after a great game by two great teams and two great qbs, no one is talking about the lions or the cowboys they're talking about the officials. And yes, I would agree that officials should have to go to a podium and answer questions after a game, the same as players and coaches have to do, having officials have to answer question from the media or from espn ext after a game particularly a game when a official had a big part to play in the outcome, would provide a little bit of accountability to some of these officials.

That's why Dan Campbell explained the whole play before the game started.

The Detroit Lions coaches also informed the referees prior to the game is played was coming

Why is no one talking about reporting to begin with? You shouldn’t have to report, the rules of the game tell you who is eligible and who is not. Decker was the furthest outside man still on the line of scrimmage, therefore he is eligible.

The reason Sewell went out there and the reason he lined up at TE was to get the D thinking it was going to him. Skipper was simply replacing Sewell at RT. The wanted the D to put all eyes on Sewell and they did. As soon as Sewell broke across the LOS you can see the defense break on him. This is exactly what Detroit wanted and they sold it flawlessly. You can even see Goff talking to Sewell in the huddle. This is also deception to get them thinking Goff is giving him final instructions and pumping him up. All the while the D has forgotten that Decker had checked in (had they called it right) and at the snap Decker faux blocks for a moment then releases once the defense has picked up their man leaving him wide open. Detroit faked out everyone, including the ref.

Detroit did everything right so they threw a flag. The ref got confused and should have just picked up the flag and replay the 2 point conversion. Instead detroit was penalized because Brad Allen can't comprehend simple words.

The Ref saw 68 and assumed 70. Told Cowboys 70 was eligible an stuck with it smh

As a cowboys fan, I’ll take the gift from the refs. After Dez’s catch and a few other ref screw ups throughout the years, I’ll consider this even.