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The Detroit Lions took a gamble and appeared to have scored the 2-point conversion they needed to win against the Dallas Cowboys on Saturday night. But somehow, officials failed to register offensive lineman Taylor Decker as eligible before he caught a pass.
This will undoubtedly fuel the never-ending story of NFL officiating mistakes this season.
The Lions thought they had secured the 2-point conversion with 23 seconds left thanks to a score by Decker. However, it was nullified due to an illegal touching penalty. The Lions had an extra offensive lineman, Dan Skipper, come in before the play, and while three Lions linemen, including Decker, moved toward referee Brad Allen to communicate something, Decker was never announced as an eligible receiver. This meant the score was taken off the board, causing Lions head coach Dan Campbell to argue with officials. The score would have put the Lions ahead 21-20 with just a few seconds left.
After the penalty, the Lions had two attempts at the 2-point conversion, with the second one coming as a result of a Cowboys offsides penalty on the first attempt. Unfortunately, Goff threw incomplete on the last attempt, and the Cowboys managed to hold on to win 20-19.
Campbell made an aggressive call after the Lions scored a late touchdown, and it initially seemed to work. Unfortunately, Decker wasn’t announced as eligible for reasons that are still unclear.
“All I really want to say is that I did what coach told me to do,” Decker explained, via Nolan Bianchi of Detroit News. “Went to the ref, said ‘Report,’ yeah. It was my understanding too that Dan brings up the possibility of those plays pregame. I did what I was told to do, did how we did it in practice all week.”
Another officiating controversy for NFL
Footage showed that the Lions’ linemen seemed to make an attempt to correctly report.
The Lions were evidently prepared for that 2-point play. ESPN’s Troy Aikman noted about Decker not reporting, “I’m not so sure it didn’t happen.” Another replay showed Lions quarterback Jared Goff motioning to Decker to communicate with the official, to which Decker complied.
“Taylor Decker also walks over to the official, and you only do that if you’re telling the official you’re reporting as eligible,” Aikman stated. “I don’t know if he just didn’t hear that or what. They said that only Dan Skipper reported, but the evidence is on the tape.”
“Initially I thought, well, he didn’t report because he’s in the game. It’s hard to believe that he didn’t.”
ESPN officiating analyst John Parry also seemed to agree that Decker made an attempt, but for some reason it wasn’t recognized.
“I don’t think [referee] Brad Allen ever recognized Decker,” said Parry, who was an NFL official for 19 seasons. “I think he sees No.