Questions Remain After Cowboys and Lions Controversial Finish

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Controversial ending

The Dallas Cowboys beat the Detroit Lions Saturday night 20-19, but the win is still fresh and has a weird feeling after the way it ended.

As I’m sure most of you have seen, the refs either make a huge mistake announcing the wrong Lions offensive lineman eligible or someone is lying.

Detroit would have had a one-point lead over the Cowboys with under a minute left.

Yes, the Ref was wrong.*HOWEVER* we’re all falsely assuming the Lions would’ve scored had the ref been right.Audio from Cowboys radio call reveals the ref stated #70 was eligible pre snap.The Cowboys defense defended the play according to the ref. pic.twitter.com/g6aJCNxJTh

The official ruled that Taylor Decker was an ineligible receiver, even though Taylor said he reported prior to the snap.

The Cowboys should have been trailing by one with about 24 seconds left on the clock and two timeouts. 

Detroit had two more chances to either tie the game or take the lead after Micah Parsons went offsides.

In a pool report (referee report), referee Brad Allen said the opposite, that Skipper reported to him as eligible and Decker did not.

From what it sounds like, the refs accounted that No. 70 was the eligible receiver, so Dallas didn’t cover the lineman who caught the pass. 

Officials have been bad

Let’s not sugarcoat this, the refs haven’t been good all year. 

This same crew missed the defensive pass interference at the end of the Chiefs-Packers game also. 

The Lions had two more chances to either take the lead or just tie it and play for overtime after the first bad call, yet they failed two more times going for two. 

Here is the pool report from PFWA pool reporter @calvinwatkins and referee Brad Allen on last night’s controversial ending to #Cowboys-#Lions: pic.twitter.com/IJDulxHyIA

As a Cowboys fan, we can’t give the win back, and Dallas still had two timeouts and 24 seconds on the clock.

If the Lions do go up by one, Dallas has the best kicker in football who hasn’t missed a kick all season. 

They would have needed what, 35 yards to give him a chance? 

Playoff seeding

What I think most are upset about is the change in playoff seeding this outcome could have.

I’d be wrong to say if it was the other way around, I’d be upset, but the Cowboys have been on the wrong end of stuff for years.

End of the day it’s going to possibly impact the playoff seeding.

Detroit will likely have to go on the road and play the winner of the NFC East in the divisional round now instead of hosting them at home.

If the Eagles lose one of their next two games and the Cowboys beat Washington next week, the Cowboys would claim the division and the No. 2 seed. 

We have to understand anything can happen in the playoffs and if the Lions lose at home in their first game this will mean nothing.

They still get a home game in the wildcard round.

Cowboys will still likely be on the road as the 5 seed. 

The 49ers are likely to still be the top seed if they win the final two games, but crazier things have happened.

If Mike McCarthy just runs the football instead of throwing it on 2nd down or the bad call on Peyton Hendershot isn’t called we aren’t even talking about this.

The NFL needs to find a way to make sure these calls are more right than wrong.

in 2023, they have been bad, although this call went for the Cowboys, it’s still a bad call, I can admit that.

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Shane Taylor is a sports journalist with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and seven years of professional media experience. He has written 766 articles for InsideTheStar.com, reaching over 928,000 readers. Prior to Inside The Star, Shane worked as a Sports Reporter for Journal Star and a Regional News Reporter for Shaw Media. He currently works in the TRIO Upward Bound department at a junior college.

31 Comments

  1. Pookey Fletchet
    GAME OVER PERIOD !! MOVE ON NEXT
  2. Beverly Olson
    How many more versions can there be about this game
  3. Ralph Bladen
    To all those who don’t know the rules, the player who caught the ball was an ineligible receiver therefore he could not catch the ball. The Lions blew it due to their coaches arrogance. Get over it.
  4. Steve Blackwood
    cowboys lost...they just refuse to admit it.
  5. Leroy Ulibarri Jr.
    They need to focus on this play because if the ref would of called this play right GAME OVER.
    Media: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=7009477795815415&set=p.7009477795815415&type=3
  6. Mike Garafalo
    Shaddap
  7. Alphonso De La Pena
    Dallas lost that game because Campbell called a shit game. He should have kicked that earlier field goal. Dallas is not playing well going into the playoffs again. They are already preparing to choke.
  8. Greg Caruana
    Brian Keith lions screwed up in reporting as an eligible receiver. 68 wasn't covered. If it was reported correctly it would have been a way harder reception. Not an easy catch. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/lions-created-illusion-led-to-confusion-controversial-call-dean-blandino-says
  9. Davern Jones
    The only question that should remain is what time is the Washington game next week.
    1. Greg Caruana
      Davern Jones 3:25 1/7
  10. Tucker Ophof
    Should have never even gotten to this point..refs blew a call on the prior series when Dallas had the ball with 1:41 left, called tripping penalty on Dallas should have been on Detroit. Get that call right the game is over! Meanwhile not 1 show has covered that!
  11. Siempre
    No, it was the correct call. Not only did the player not clearly report but the outside receiver was on the line making the tackle ineligible. No one cries when the Boys get bad calls but the refs got this correct. Eagles just lost. Beat Washington next week and win the NFC East!
  12. Jason Harris
    Only question I have is with the o-line. They are not playing well at all.
    1. Jason Harris
      Doug Mackenzie yes sir and Dan Quinn calling soft didn’t help any. This team needs to be aggressive and stay aggressive!
  13. Earl Geary
    If they would have gotten the tripping call right this conversation doesn't happen Dallas first down game over
    1. Mike William
      Kevin Spigelmeyer https://www.on3.com/pro/news/nfl-referee-brad-allen-explains-controversial-ending-to-dallas-cowboys-detroit-lions-game/
    2. Mike William
      Kevin Spigelmeyer https://www.google.com/amp/s/theathletic.com/5172799/2024/01/01/lions-cowboys-referees-officiating-dan-campbell/%3famp=1
    3. Kevin Spigelmeyer
      Mike William https://www.clickondetroit.com/sports/2024/01/01/report-nfl-blames-lions-for-blown-call-on-2-point-play-vs-cowboys-not-the-refs/
    4. Kevin Spigelmeyer
      Mike William I’m still waiting for you to prove yourself, right?
    5. Kevin Spigelmeyer
      Mike William OK dumb fuck everybody knows it wasn’t because of that one call they’ve been making bad calls all year just like the botched tripping call against Dallas that was actually Detroit if you had a fucking brain cell, you would realize that
    6. Kevin Spigelmeyer
      Mike William you’re trying to argue something you think should’ve happened against a complete blown call that did happen. Dallas gets called for tripping when it was Detroit compared to your ghost holding call.
    7. Mike William
      Earl Geary obvious holding call missed on the 96 yd td. You're right the game shouldn't have been that close
  14. Steve Preciado
    Detroit player tried to be sly by not being fully committed to making sure the ref acknowledged him checking in as a receiver. Detroit tried being Belicheck for a moment and messed it up. Not only that but he did it right before lining up. Maybe Dallas brings in different players for the play if they knew #68 checked in as a reciever? Cry all you want Detroit, get it out of your system but your team is to blame for the mess up. Hey at least Jason Kelce fully admitted to their "tush push" cheat of moving the ball forward a foot and a half before his team lined up based on the balls new position. Said he'd been warned for years about doing that. Lions can admit their mess up too.
  15. Mike M
    I think the "confusion" about that "eligible receiver" wasn't accidental. The play was designed thst way hoping these notoriously bad refs would miss it. What could be easier than having your receiver uncovered? These refs got this call correct...much to Campbell's chagrin!
    1. lonewolfz28
      Yup. There were two flags. One for the illegal touching, and one for the eligible OL being covered up by the unreported OT. I think Skipper (#70) screwed up by reporting eligible when he wasn't supposed to. He's probably used to reporting in those situations. That tends to happen when you try getting cute by trying to sow confusion in the opponent. Sometimes you end up confusing the refs, or even worse, your own team.
  16. Jeff Harness
    Maybe a wildcard win if we’re lucky and then we’re unfortunately done!
    1. Howard Holt
      Jeff Harness when we beat the Commanders we will be #2 in seeding. That will mean two potential playoff games at home. We are 8-0 at home.
  17. Billy Pernell
    Illegal formation anyway
  18. lonewolfz28
    I see it as turnabout for the no-call on the obvious illegal hands to the face of Parsons on one of the Lions' TD's. The only reason Parsons wasn't looking out the earhole of his helmet was because he was having his head shoved so far up and back that the helmet was about to come off. He was getting mugged repeatedly again, play after play, with no offensive holding called.
    1. lonewolfz28
      I just watched the Giants get called for two holding penalties (1 by TE, and 1 by C) that were nothing compared to the holds happening to Parsons on nearly every play where he rushes the passer. Of course, if Dallas was playing, our OL would be the ones getting flagged left and right.
  19. Patrick Bowhay
    I mean if they call the right player eligible its a different play altogether because Dallas knows so you cant give Detroit the 2pt because that would be straight up cheating. Even if they made the initial mistake of announcing the wrong number, which sounds the most likely, they have to at least replay the down.

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