Lions @ Cowboys

[Cherry 1,302]

 

Hindsight bias is probably factoring in here, but I really think so. Every competent offense should be able to get that one yard, in which case the Lions had a chance to either put the game away or take a 6-point lead with little time remaining.

 

Now, thinking of clock management on a higher level (which most NFL coaches are uncapable of), if the Lions go for it and miss, the Cowboys do get the short field, meaning if they score, they score quickly. So Detroit would then get the ball back with more time left.

I think either strategy could be argued for. The biggest problem for the Lions was the punt got fucked up. If the punt was a usual punt there is a very good chance Romo & company would have to drive 90-95 yards. I don't doubt the Lions could hold them if they have that kind of distance. If I'm the Lions I trust my D to hold a whole field better than I expect my offense to pick up 4th & 1.

[Bucman 891]

Lions fans over here complaining about a penalty but didn't complain when the NFL overturned Suh suspension.

[Guest Phailadelphia]

I think it's safe to say that entire game was poorly officiated for both sides. Doubt those refs get to move on to the next round of the playoffs.

 

Edit: And I guess to address the "then it should have been offsetting calls" remarks regarding the Lions facemask on Hitchens...that initiated the contact. If he hadn't grabbed his facemask there may not have been any contact. Seems like either a moot point or an unknowable.

Edited January 5, 2015 by Phailadelphia

[Thanatos 2,847]

Except it didn't.

 

Hitchens shoved Pettigrew first (illegal contact), then the facemask was grabbed, then the DPI/holding occurred, then Dez ran onto the field with no helmet to argue with the refs.

 

The penalties that should have been called that play, if the refs got everything right, were:

 

Illegal Contact against Dallas

Defensive Pass Interference against Dallas

Unsportsmanlike Conduct against Dallas

Personal Foul, Facemask, against Detroit

 

And none of them were.

 

Those refs fucked that play up something awful.

 

Do you guys think that the idea of splitting up ref teams based on who did best at what position factored into this? No trust between refs here, I mean. Always thought that way of doing things was a bit iffy, take the best team of refs.

Edited January 5, 2015 by Thanatos19

[RazorStar 4,025]

 

You really think so? From, what, the 47? Leading by 3? Why give the Cowboys a short field to tie the game? The Lions D is great, I really think punting was okay there.

 

Cowards don't win football games DMac. There is never a situation where going for it on 4th and 1 is a bad idea.

[Thanatos 2,847]

Hey, I think you guys all know how I feel about Rivera and his failures to go for it on 4th and 1. Just not sure about it there.

[Attyla the Hawk 197]

Honestly, I felt it was regular season DPI. This is the playoffs. I don't want ticky tack bailout calls factoring into the games. I enjoyed how the refs had a higher standard for penalties in the Steelers/Ravens contest. As opposed to the ridiculous ticky tack flagfest for the AZ/CAR game. That was just entertainment at it's worst.

 

The only real issue I had was the execution of the call/non call. The fact is, the call was questionable. It could have gone either way. And in the playoffs, that standard should merit eating the flag. And now there is no way to divorce the expectation that illegal lobbying from the Dallas sideline altered the outcome.

 

I do believe that the playoffs should be officiated by whole crews. Not some patchwork mashing of random high grade officials. That lack of cohesion and communication amongst the crew really made that kind of fiasco possible in the first place.

[FartWaffles 1,857]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000454572/article/dean-blandino-picking-up-flag-was-debatable

 

Dean Blandino: Picking up flag was 'debatable'

 

NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino admitted Monday that picking up a flag after officials called pass interference in the fourth quarter of Sunday's Lions-Cowboys game was "debatable." He would have preferred that the crew stuck with its initial call.

 

In an interview with Around The NFL, Blandino stressed that the decision was a "judgement call."

 

"I think it's debatable," Blandino said. "There was a left hand on (Brandon Pettigrew's) shoulder, but does that significantly hinder the receiver's ability to make the catch? Looking at all the angles, we're not convinced it is or it isn't. I think had the flag not been thrown, I think we still would have debated it."

 

"I certainly could have supported it if they left the flag down. I would have supported the foul. But I think it's a close judgement call where you have two officials with differing opinions on it."

 

In the end, Blandino believes the crew should have stuck with its initial call.

 

"I'd prefer that they kept it down, having the flag down," Blandino said. "But like I said it's a tight judgement call that could have went either way."

 

Blandino also said that the mechanics of the entire crew needed to be "much better." He wants his crew to be sure about making its call before they announce anything. Referee Pete Morelli initially announced the pass interference penalty before the crew changed its call. Lions players were "baffled" by the change.

 

Blandino also said that he would have supported a penalty on Dallas wide receiver Dez Bryant, who came off the sideline to argue the call. However, Blandino noted that penalizing the sideline for such an argument is not an automatic call, and the officials can use their discretion.

[DBR96A 87]

 

Mike Mitchell was flagged for the exact same thing against the Ravens the night prior, and the refs never picked up the flag.

Edited January 5, 2015 by DBR96A

[BC 331]

Hats off big time to Detroit. Holding Murray to 75 or something yards. Holding all receivers to about that as well. But I feel for their fanbase today. Not because of the call but because the team showed what it always has shown in the past. That in the biggest of games, they can't live up. Calvin's drops and really dumb false-start on the final drive were so hard to watch. As relieving as it was to know that we didn't have to play Calvin, Tate, Suh, and Ansah the following week.

[BenGone 35]

Oh, and Dez Bryant ran onto the field after that play without his helmet, which should have been unsportsmanlike conduct.

 

 

I'm sticking to my "Lions sucked and deserved to lose" narrative, but that play was a pretty big officiating fail.

He wasn't going to catch it anyway. It was a shitty throw. No bailout flags on this play.

[BenGone 35]

Its a pass interference. And a defender in today's nfl would get flagged 100/100 times for PI on that play. C'mon son. I don't care for this and I think its laughable people are trying to say it wasn't. And that doesn't even begin to touch on the fact that Dez ran onto 1/3 of the field with no helmet right after the penalty was called, which was also ignored.

*99/100

 

The Lions were just lucky Hitchens didn't turn around and intercept it. Well, except for that whole 10 yard punt incident.

[Vin+ 3,121]

 

Following Dallas' controversial win over Detroit Sunday, referee Pete Morelli explained the key pass interference flag was picked up because one official thought it was "face guarding."

With 8:25 left and the Lions up 20-17, Anthony Hitchens appeared to interfere with Brandon Pettigrew on a 3rd-and-1. "The back judge threw his flag for defensive pass interference," Morelli said in a pool report. "We got other information from another official from a different angle that thought the contact was minimal and didn't warrant pass interference. He thought it was face guarding." Face guarding (not playing the ball) is legal in the NFL but a penalty in college. "I mean, they already spotted the ball as a pass interference, and then went back and said it wasn't pass interference," Lions S James Ihedigbo said. "Never, never. Eight years in the NFL, I haven't seen that happen."

Source: ESPN.com

 

 

Maybe the NFL will revamp how they do ref crews for playoff games.

[Attyla the Hawk 197]

He wasn't going to catch it anyway. It was a shitty throw. No bailout flags on this play.

 

This I strongly agree with.

 

Pettigrew did what a lot of receivers do with underthrown balls. They don't fight back for it. Yes, I understand that Hitchens placed his hand on Pettigrew's shoulder before laying up on him. But Pettigrew made no attempt whatsoever to work back to the ball or give any indication that he was going to fight for the ball which, contact or not, was going to drill Hichens in the back regardless.

 

Pettigrew, by his soft approach to falling on his own butt backwards and not aggressively attacking the ball allowed the play to be viewed in a debatable light.

 

I would offer the Fail Mary play as a suitable example of what I mean. That play was destined to be an interception. And had Tate accepted the same flaccid attempt to attack the ball -- it would have remained an interception or at best incomplete.

 

But the difference was, Tate attacked the ball and fought for the reception. And when you do that, you affect the judgement of officials who don't have the benefit of slow motion replay in making their initial calls. They are human and their judgement on obscured or borderline plays are going to be affected by that.

 

Pettigrew didn't earn the benefit of the doubt with the way he approached a pass that was never going to be completed the way he played it. Ultimately I wasn't disappointed in the end result. This is the playoffs. Begging and hoping for the refs to do your job for you has little place here.

[DonovanMcnabb for H.O.F 2,241]

*99/100

 

The Lions were just lucky Hitchens didn't turn around and intercept it. Well, except for that whole 10 yard punt incident.

The Cowboys were "lucky" Hitchens wasn't called for a holding.

Edited January 6, 2015 by DonovanMcnabb for H.O.F

[Guest Phailadelphia]

TWill's first TD was an absolute game changer. DET was blitzing on almost half of their defensive snaps in the first half, but as soon as Williams burned them for 76 and a TD they rarely blitzed in the 2nd half and allowed Dallas to do exactly what they wanted to do on offense.

[BJORN 679]

The Cowboys were "lucky" Hitchens wasn't called for a holding.

Lions were "lucky" Pettigrew didn't get called for a facemask.

[AllYouNeedIsLovie 377]

Disgraceful performance by the refs. Those clowns, as well as the one's who did the Cardinals/Panthers game, should be fined and not allowed to do playoff games again.

[BenGone 35]

The Cowboys were "lucky" Hitchens wasn't called for a holding.

Detroit is lucky there wasn't a holding call on Dez where Tony was looking for him and it probably would have been a touchdown. I also saw a couple more, specifically one on Witten.

 

Bad officiating all around.

[Thanatos 2,847]

Only Cowboys fans lol.

 

Sure there was bad officiating, there was nothing as bad as that play, except against Dallas.

 

I get it, yall really don't want to admit it, but that call was fucking huge. You got a lot of help from the zebras and without that help, its completely up in the air what would have happened.

Edited January 6, 2015 by Thanatos19

[DonovanMcnabb for H.O.F 2,241]

Detroit is lucky there wasn't a holding call on Dez where Tony was looking for him and it probably would have been a touchdown. I also saw a couple more, specifically one on Witten.

 

Bad officiating all around.

 

I'm not gonna sit here and argue this all day and night with you guys because I've already said that I don't care for these penalties. But it's laughable to play the whole "bad officiating all around" card. There are numerous photos, gifs, vines circulating the web of how many holding, illegal contacts, etc that the Cowboys offensive line got away with ALL GAME. So much so that even two days later, the VP of officiating is still making statements where they admit to another blown call on a 4th down play that directly led to the Cowboys taking the lead.

 

The Cowboys got the win, the Cowboys played better down the stretch, the cowboys didn't fuck up repeatedly on special teams, etc. But don't for a second try to pretend as if the Lions weren't screwed repeatedly by the officials against Dallas. Not even the NFL agrees with you.

Edited January 6, 2015 by DonovanMcnabb for H.O.F

[Sacks98 28]

The PI should of been offsetting because of Pettigrew grabbing the facemask of the defensive player but no excuse for Bryant not getting called.

[Thanatos 2,847]

The illegal contact was initiated by Hitchens first, too, if we're gonna bring the facemask into things.

[Shotgun 442]

 

Do you guys think that the idea of splitting up ref teams based on who did best at what position factored into this? No trust between refs here, I mean. Always thought that way of doing things was a bit iffy, take the best team of refs.

 

 

According to what I've heard and read it's not even a mix of the best officials in all of these games. A lot of the officials for the wildcard and divisional rounds aren't even in the top half of the officials in the league. Thankfully the ones we've seen in the wildcard we're unlikely to see again as the only officials that officiate twice in the postseason are the ones that do the Superbowl.

 

Personally I prefer the idea of taking the top 4 crews and having them officiate the games. For the Championships, use the top 2 ranked crews, and of course for the Superbowl have the top crew. I don't see how using a hybrid of various different officials that don't work together all year is going to be beneficial.

[Dutch 874]