Saturday night’s matchup between two playoff-bound teams — including the longtime powerhouse Dallas Cowboys and surprising upstart Detroit Lions — was supposed to be a showcase of the league’s best and brightest stars. Instead, it became another embarrassing debacle focusing on the NFL’s officiating, which appeared to once again shift the outcome of a vital game with what looked like an embarrassing error.
The scenario unfolded after the Lions, who trailed 20-13 after the Cowboys kicked a field goal with 1:41 remaining in the game, capped a 75-yard two minute drill with an 11-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jared Goff to Amon-Ra St. Brown to pull within one point. Lions coach Dan Campbell opted to play for the win rather than overtime, and sent his team out to attempt a two-point conversion for the win. On the play, Lions offensive lineman Taylor Decker lined up as an eligible receiver, and eventually caught a pass from Goff to apparently give the Lions a 21-20 lead with less than 30 seconds left on the clock.
However, several seconds after the play was over, a flag fluttered in from referee Brad Allen, who claimed that Decker had not reported in as an eligible receiver, as required by NFL rules. The fact that Decker had allegedly not reported also made the formation illegal. Instead of a game-winning 2-point conversion, the Lions were instead awarded a penalty. On the ensuing try, the Cowboys stopped the Lions, but were ruled offsides. Detroit went for 2 yet again, and also failed the third attempt.
There’s just one problem: a fairly voluminous amount of video evidence suggests that Decker did, in fact, declare himself eligible to the Allen before the play.
Video replays before the play show Goff grabbing Decker by the arm and pointing toward the official, clearly telling him to check in as an eligible receiver.
Numerous other camera angles showed Decker walk up to Allen, who responded by nodding and going over to the Cowboys defensive players and signaling that a Lions lineman had checked in as eligible.
Notably, Lions offensive lineman Dan Skipper (number 70 in the above video) can be seen approaching Decker, but clearly after Allen has nodded at Decker and begun to approach the Cowboys players. Still, the fact that Skipper entered Allen’s field of vision likely accounts for the chaos that unfolded.
After the game, Allen offered a pool reporter an extremely implausible account of what happened between himself and Decker, claiming that Skipper rather than Decker was reporting in as an eligible receiver.
Pool reporter Calvin Watkins asked Allen, “There was a player that went to you just before that play — it was Decker — and he was talking to you, two linemen, talking to you and then you went to the Cowboys defensive line to speak to them. What was that conversation about?”
Allen claims, “That conversation is where number 70 (Skipper) reports to me, and then I go to the defensive team, and I say to them, number 70 has reported as an eligible receiver,’ so they will be aware of who reported, and then I return to my position.”
However, the video replay seems to make very clear that Decker rather than Skipper reported, confirming the strenuous denials of Lions players after the game that anyone other than Decker reported in as eligible. Decker said that he did “exactly what coach told me to do,” and Skipper denied reporting in as eligible, but declined to comment further, saying that he had “very few words that aren’t going to get me fined.” NFL players are subject to fines for public criticism of officiating.
Additionally, as noted by Allen himself, Skipper would not have even been required to report in as eligible on the play, raising the question of why he would have done so.
