RedRamage

Here's the evidence we have: Pregame: Campbell says that he went over the play with the officials BEFORE the game. Rex Ryan confirms that this is general practice on any trick plays to make sure the officials know what to expect. In game: We see Goff direct Decker to report. We see Decker converse with the official who appears to nod at Decker. We see the Lions lineup in a legal formation if Decker reports, but what would be an illegal formation is Schipper reports. We see the Lions run a play that's clearly been practiced repeatedly and is designed to throw to Decker. We have flags thrown late. We have the ref sayings two different penalties were flagged, but only one was announced. Now, as much as I've joked about the refs being on the take, I don't know if they actually are. It's probably more likely that it was just plain incompetence than intentionally trying to screw the Lions. And in the end, nothing will happen. The NFL will never change the outcome of the game despite the potential ramifications in terms of seeding and playoff locations. For the record: I don't blame Dallas fans (if any of y'all are out there reading this) for celebrating the win. Bad calls do happen all game long and sometimes they go for your team, sometimes they don't. A team can't control that and if it helps your team, well... that's what happens sometimes. I just sucks when your a fan of a team like the Lions who seem to collect game changing bad calls on a regular basis.

Just in case you needed anymore proof that the guy was confused and making stuff up... from the pool report: https://www.freep.com/story/sports/nfl/lions/2023/12/31/detroit-lions-taylor-decker-flagged-on-2-point-play-referee-brad-allen-explains/72071503007/ Why was there a penalty called on the two-point conversion for an illegal touch? “So, we had a situation where if you were going to have an ineligible number occupy an eligible position, you have to report that to the referee. On this particular play, No. 70, who had reported during the game a couple of times, reported to me as eligible. Then he lined up at the tackle position. So, actually, he didn’t have to report at all. No. 68, who ended up going downfield and touching the pass, did not report..." We noticed there were two flags thrown on that same play. Was there another penalty called on that play as well? “Yes. Because No. 70 reported as eligible and he was covered up on the line of scrimmage, that makes it an illegal formation. So, No. 70 is in an illegal position because he is covered up by rule, and No. 68 catches the pass, which is also illegal.” So in one answer it's "He didn't even need to report... so that was silly of him wasn't it?" Then in another answer: "Because he reported and lined up wrong it was illegal. He shouldn't have done that and we flagged him for it." (Obviously that's me adding some thoughts to his answers.) Then the next step: When there's two flags thrown for two different penalties, aren't they always announced with the other team declining whichever is the lesser penalty? Yet only the one penalty was announced.

Yes they did, and NFL Europe of course failed too. How much of that was Europe not embracing football though? I dunno. I think the NFL is also a much bigger product these days than it was back then. Obviously I'm conjecturing and guessing a lot. I think a development/minor league COULD work and the NFL has enough money to make it work if they wanted to. The question is whether they want too. Would the value they get out of it be worth the money put in? That's the biggest question. With college football they essentially get a free minor league. And with the damage that the game puts on a player's body the league/teams may not want more damage. But I could envision a situation where there's an 8th, 9th, and 10th round of the NFL draft where the players picked are put on UFL rosters, paid for by the NFL teams that drafted them (at a UFL salary rate) and under team control for 1 or 2 seasons or something...

I dunno... I think there's room for Spring Football as development/minor league sort of thing. For instance I'd love for the Lions to "loan" Sorsdal and Martin to the Panthers for some seasoning. If the NFL investing some money into the league that way and was able to use it for a developmental stuff (sorta an Arizona Fall League for the NFL) then I think it could work. I don't know if it will ever be able to stand on it's own though.

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/usfl-xfl-combine-to-form-united-football-league The Michigan Panther's will be part of the UFL, which surprises me, but pleases me as well. The first game for the new(ish) league is March 30 and will be the XFL Champs vs. the UFL Champs. Other than the Arlington Renegades (XFL Champs) we don't know which other 3 XFL teams will make it through yet (Kinda surprising given how close the season is). The three USFL teams besides the Panthers who made it through are USFL Champs Birmingham Stallions, the Houston Gamblers, and the Memphis Showboats.

I fixed the NFL's webpage for them: And no... I'm not bitter at all.

Cowboys have a realistic shot of getting the 2 seed. The Lions may have to go back to Dallas in the playoffs.

Making it to the SB would at least end the "Detroit has never made it to the Super Bowl" talk.

Given that this play was specifically told to the officiating crew BEFORE the game, Campbell probably figured they would do their job and get it right. Also, I just re-listened to the broadcast and I didn't hear it announced at all. Not saying it wasn't announced but I was specifically listening for it and I didn't hear anything. If I couldn't even hear it when I was listening for it, I suspect it would have been super easy to miss it if I wasn't.

Kyle Meinke says pretty much the same thing here that this play was drawn up for the officials before the game so they knew what to expect... and they still got it wrong. It's harder and harder for me to just accept that it was a mistake. https://www.mlive.com/lions/2023/12/admit-it-refs-you-kicked-the-call-and-changed-the-playoff-landscape-for-detroit.html

Good point. I'm pissed about the flag but I would be livid if that was a North clinching play that was called back.

I'm glad you brought up Joyce's mistake because that thought went through my head as well. This seemed like the Lions version of the Imperfect Game.

Welcome to the Lions Goff...

I'll be very interested to hear what the coaching staff has to say about the play.

I dunno man... I just don't know that they would have the intention of throwing to Decker and not having Decker report. I think it's entirely possible the refs didn't hear him report or something, but jeez man... how would they not having Decker report if that was the intended play?

It was a 2-pt pass to Taylor Decker... but the refs called it back saying he didn't report.

Refs gonna ref...

Refs gonna ref...

to stop the clock maybe?

injuried.

No... it cost them two time outs and a TD giving them the lead instead of just a tie.

Could the they drool over the kicker anymore?

Umm... now you're just inventing things to yell at the coaches about. There was absolutely ZERO reason not to run a play there.

Well, I wasn't anticipating a win, but still a bummer.