Detroit Lions 2023

[MWmetalhead]

The commissioner's office needs to require eligibility reports to be announced over the P.A. system moving forward so that a situation like this never happens again.

[MWmetalhead]

Decker should've made sure the referee was looking his way when reporting. The ref was looking at Skipper.

[Taco]

That was the shittiest ending I have seen in a long time.

[moldyoldie]

As far as I can make out, it's now a case of "he said, he said" as far as who actually reported as tackle-eligible, Decker or Skipper. All the video evidence points to Decker reporting as eligible, but the ref saw Skipper running toward him and ASSUMED it was he reporting. The Lions did everything right on that play, including Campbell explaining the play to the ref pre-game.

This, as they say, was a "failure to communicate", with the ref failing to "receive" the right "communication". It's FUBAR, not SOL!

I'm proud of our boys the way they played. Damn, I haven't experienced an emotional rollercoaster like that in recent memory. I'm trying to resist a feeling of righteous indignation; it's hard. This is Jim Joyce/Andres Galarraga redux.

[MWmetalhead]

Unlike the Vikings game, Lions' clock management and play calling on their final drive was excellent.

As bad as the 2-pt conversion situation was, the 92 yard completion the Lions gave up earlier in the game (when they should've been able to tackle Prescott for a safety) actually bothers me more.

[craig11152]

The commissioner's office needs to require eligibility reports to be announced over the P.A. system moving forward so that a situation like this never happens again.

Seems to me that ruins the play before the ball snaps. You are trying to catch the defense not paying attention to minutiae to make the play work.

Edit: I stand corrected. I did not realize the defense is informed by the officials.

[craig11152]

I’d have preferred the 3 points.....

^^^ This .
I am a firm believer in taking the 3 almost always in the first half.
My exceptions are two.
1. you are inside the 1 yard line
or
2. you are down by 3 touchdowns.

I think it was beyond nuts to try for 2 at the end. Kick the one and take your chances in OT. Overtime gives you multiple plays to win or lose, not one.

[moldyoldie]

The commissioner's office needs to require eligibility reports to be announced over the P.A. system moving forward so that a situation like this never happens again.

Seems to me that ruins the play before the ball snaps. You are trying to catch the defense not paying attention to minutiae to make the play work.

Yes, that's why the defense needs to know who's eligible! Apparently the ref MISTAKENLY told the defense that Skipper was reporting as eligible, not Decker.

[craig11152]

The commissioner's office needs to require eligibility reports to be announced over the P.A. system moving forward so that a situation like this never happens again.

Seems to me that ruins the play before the ball snaps. You are trying to catch the defense not paying attention to minutiae to make the play work.

Yes, that's why the defense needs to know who's eligible! Apparently the ref MISTAKENLY told the defense that Skipper was reporting as eligible, not Decker.

Understood . I was mistaken in my assumption.
Which raises the question why a team would bother to make a tackle in to a receiver in place of a guy paid to catch footballs if there is no element of surprise?

[bmw]

Having read various comments and watching various videos the day-after, my conclusion is that the proper fix moving forward for an error like this is to have EVERYTHING reviewable inside of 2 minutes and give each coach 1 challenge during that time window. In this instance, there was ultimately enough video evidence that what should have happened after a review was to re-run the play from the two-yard-line. The 2-pointer as completed couldn't stand because Dallas couldn't have been expected to cover #70 given that he wasn't announced as eligible by the ref.

[moldyoldie]

The 2-pointer as completed couldn't stand because Dallas couldn't have been expected to cover #70 given that he wasn't announced as eligible by the ref.

No, #70 (Skipper) apparently WAS announced... MISTAKENLY! It was #68 (Decker) who should have been announced.

[bmw]

I meant 68. Bottom line was the guy who caught the pass wasn't announced as eligible by the refs, so Dallas had no reason to cover him.

[moldyoldie]

I meant 68. Bottom line was the guy who caught the pass wasn't announced as eligible by the refs, so Dallas had no reason to cover him.

Ipso facto, the ref fucked up.

[bmw]

As an aside, I am now rooting for a Lions v. Cowboys rematch in the 2nd round of the playoffs, and it would be in Detroit. Detroit is all but locked into a 3-seed now so the following would have to happen for this rematch to occur:

-Philly win the East (likely given their final 2 opponents)
-Philly lose their first playoff game (I'd say possible given how poorly they've played as of late)
-Detroit and Dallas each win their first round game (Dallas likely going to Tampa Bay, easily winnable for them)

[bmw]

I meant 68. Bottom line was the guy who caught the pass wasn't announced as eligible by the refs, so Dallas had no reason to cover him.

Ipso facto, the ref fucked up.

Yeah, I agree. My only point is in response to all the people I'm reading everywhere who say Detroit won the game - even in the best-case scenario had the refs conferenced realtime and realized they f-ed up, the most they could have done was allow Detroit to re-run the play from the 2 (as opposed to from the 7).