The NFL Says The Refs Screwed Up Another Lions-Cowboys Penalty Call — And No One's Talking About It

Justacommeman

I like the debate and outrage comment. MJ

The Cowboys won, 24-20. The National Football League told the Detroit Lions that it missed what should have been a critical holding penalty against the Dallas Cowboys. The missed penalty occurred on a fourth down during the Cowboys' game-winning touchdown drive, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.
A different missed call — a reversed defensive-pass-interference penalty with 8:25 left in the fourth quarter — has been the subject of widespread debate and outrage.

There has been little talk about this call, but it might be just as important as the missed DPI.

With 6:00 left in the fourth quarter and the Cowboys down 20-17, Tony Romo completed a pass to Jason Witten for 21 yards on 4th and 6.

The NFL says a 10-yard holding penalty should have been called on left guard Ronald Leary for illegally preventing Ndamukong Suh from getting to Romo.

Here's the hold. Suh is in the middle of the screen, and you can see Leary (#65) wrap his arm around him and drag him down as he approaches Romo:

Whoops. Missed another. I'm sure it had no effect on the outcome of the game either

It gave Romo just enough time to get the pass off:

If the hold had been called, the Cowboys would have had 4th and 16 and likely would have punted.

PSASAP

The Cowboys vs Packers is a much better draw for the ratings than Lions vs Packers, follow the money.

Justacommeman

<< <i>The Cowboys vs Packers is a much better draw for the ratings than Lions vs Packers, follow the money. >>



It would have been Lions vs Seattle and Packers vs Panthers but duly noted on the intent

MJ

thehallmark

Speaking of conspiracies that are totally true...
The NFL also puts chemicals in the water that make you dumber and more prone to getting worked up about missed calls in games.

Motive, opportunity. Follow the money.

seebelow

Where's the commissioner in all of this? Low profile but I think this is part of what he gets $40+ million a YEAR to address.

perkdog

Im not sure the comish can do anything except say "Sorry" I mean there is NOTHING anyone can do about it at this point

Barndog

I did not get to see the game (lucky DISH customer with no Fox channels due to contract squabbles), so all I can say is that officials miss a lot of calls EVERY game and also throw their flags when they shouldn't (also every game). Standard stuff, just under a microscope now.

If the NFL wants to change, they can expand replay.

sparky64

<< <i>I did not get to see the game (lucky DISH customer with no Fox channels due to contract squabbles), so all I can say is that officials miss a lot of calls EVERY game and also throw their flags when they shouldn't (also every game). Standard stuff, just under a microscope now. >>


Good point, well said.

"The NFL Says The Refs Screwed Up Another Lions-Cowboys Penalty Call — And No One's Talking About It"

Because they are all chatting about it over at GetOverIt.edu.

pocketpiececommems

If it happens on the field you're ok. If you do something non-football related you're banned.

Justacommeman

BTW this statement wasn't issued by the Lions or a chat room it came from the NFL . Not only did the refs botch the DPI/Holding call on the Lions drive they ALSO missed a key offensive holding call on the unsueing Dallas game winning drive.

I guess an apology by the Conmish and a suspension of that crew for the rest of the playoffs would feel good for a few minutes. Other then that it just sucks.

MJ

RoarIn84

My personal favorite of all the game's non-calls..... WTF?



No prob, Dez.... See you on the party bus, bro!!!

bronco2078

It is kind of crazy since the refs are watching Soooooooo on every play how could they miss the hold? I suppose it doesn't occur to them that he can be the foul-ee instead of the foul-er ?

grote15

<< <i>My personal favorite of all the game's non-calls..... WTF?



No prob, Dez.... See you on the party bus, bro!!! >>



According to the rule, it's an automatic personal if a player ON THE FIELD removes his helmet. Bryant was on the sideline. It could have been called, but refs have discretion in those cases and typically do not flag a player on the sideline without a helmet for simply coming onto the field.

perkdog

In all honesty I dont think a flag should have been called on Bryant, it was emotions playing out there and calling that for a flag would have been a bit too much.

grote15

<< <i>In all honesty I dont think a flag should have been called on Bryant, it was emotions playing out there and calling that for a flag would have been a bit too much. >>



+1

Justacommeman

<< <i>

<< <i>In all honesty I dont think a flag should have been called on Bryant, it was emotions playing out there and calling that for a flag would have been a bit too much. >>



+1 >>



The original flag thrown would have sufficed

MJ

Skin2

Except Suh should not have even been playing. He should have been serving his one game suspension that he was given.

larryallen73

As a Sacramento King's fan we do believe in conspiracies starting at the league office. However, there are going to be some missed calls every game.

galaxy27

<< <i>As a Sacramento King's fan we do believe in conspiracies starting at the league office. >>



I know what you're alluding to. Most egregious example of a fixed game I have ever seen in all my years of watching sports.

Did Mike Bibby's face ever heal?

lightningboy

Is it too late to talk about the 7 penalties that the NFL admits it missed that actually favored the Lions?????

Or are we only doing threads in favor of Detroit?

grote15

<< <i>Is it too late to talk about the 7 penalties that the NFL admits it missed that actually favored the Lions?????

Or are we only doing threads in favor of Detroit? >>



C'mon now, that blown call was HUGE for Dallas, and I know you realize that. Don't start sounding like a homer, now, LOL..

lightningboy

I don't mind being called a homer.

The question is do we know if any of the 7 blown "Lions calls" lead to a point advantage for them (Detroit getting points or Dallas missing out on points)? If so, then those points actually count as much as the points Detroit may have missed out on with that drive. This isn't Sugar Ray Leonard style boxing where you finish a round with a flurry and blind the judges as to what went on the other 2-1/2 minutes.

And lets not assume that Detroit would have come away with anything more than a field goal anyways. They scored a whopping 6 points the last 3 quarters of that game.

Dallas did not let blown calls going against them keep them from outscoring Detroit. Detroit did allow that to happen to them.

grote15

Can you list the 7 calls that were supposedly blown vs Dallas? I'd be interested in seeing those.

I don't blame you for feeling the way do as a Cowboy fan. But no question that some blown calls are more egregious than others.

lightningboy

I don't know the 7 calls. I'm just using the same basis that the OP did in reiterating what the NFL had said.

I know what you are saying and all the others as well. My thinking is that a blown pass interference call in the 1st quarter that thwarts a potential scoring drive for a team could cost them the same amount of points as a blown call in the 4th quarter. The points are not weighted as the game goes on.

ymarea

As far as I can recall, the 7 blown calls that benefited Detroit were not specified in the article about the NFL's acknowledgement of the errors, except for one. The only specific play I remember in the article was a missed defensive holding that should have been called on Detroit on the 3rd down play that immediately preceded the 4th-and-6 conversion to Witten. Had that call been made, it would have been 1st down, Dallas, with no 4th down play and, thus, no missed offensive holding call on Dallas on that same 4th down. The 7 missed calls that benefited Detroit, all of which the league acknowledged, came from a 10-play game film that Dallas sent in as part of the routine officiating review process.

There can be no doubt that there were many more missed calls that went both ways. Also, this is nothing exclusive to that particular game. In every NFL game, offensive or defensive holding can be called on virtually every play, as well as many other penalties that go uncalled or improperly called. It's all just part of the game. The controversial DPI reversal coupled with the missed holding on Hitchens benefited Dallas, of course. There can be no denying that. However, that one play carried no more weight than any others in the game. It was it's high visibility owing to the premature announcement of the penalty that led to all the controversy.

That game was decided by the players, not the officials.

I understand how those wanting to see Dallas lose can be upset. I am still peeved about the DPI call against Dallas' Benny Barnes in Super Bowl XIII, as well as the non-call against Deion Sanders when he clearly interfered with Michael Irvin in the 1994 NFC Title Game, which caused Coach Switzer to go ballistic, incurring a personal foul (as should have been called on Dez Bryant in the Detroit game). As a Cowboy fan, my selective memory chooses to remember (and exaggerate) only those glaring calls/non-calls that hurt Dallas. Intellectually, though, I know that there were many other factors and plays that decided those games. When you get right down to it, the better team won those respective games, just like in the Detroit/Dallas game.

Justacommeman

<< <i>I don't know the 7 calls. I'm just using the same basis that the OP did in reiterating what the NFL had said.

I know what you are saying and all the others as well. My thinking is that a blown pass interference call in the 1st quarter that thwarts a potential scoring drive for a team could cost them the same amount of points as a blown call in the 4th quarter. The points are not weighted as the game goes on. >>



Of course it does. When it's late in the game you have limited chances to fight through the bad call. Momentum is a mother. It seemed to be the Detroit was the better team in total on Sunday. However, I do not fault Dallas for taking advantage.

MJ

ymarea

"It seemed to be the(sic) Detroit was the better team in total on Sunday."

No seeming about it: Detroit was the better team for 1 quarter. After the 1st quarter, they were outscored 24-6. That doesn't seem like the better team to me, nor should it to anyone objectively critiquing the game. They had many opportunities to put the game away and failed each time. They simply didn't play well enough to win.

Justacommeman

<< <i>"It seemed to be the(sic) Detroit was the better team in total on Sunday."

No seeming about it: Detroit was the better team for 1 quarter. After the 1st quarter, they were outscored 24-6. That doesn't seem like the better team to me, nor should it to anyone objectively critiquing the game. They had many opportunities to put the game away and failed each time. They simply didn't play well enough to win. >>



And if the Lions score a TD on that drive and go up by 10 points then what? Then your math doesn't work. We will never know. All we know is that call turned the game decisively in favor of the Cowboys. Do they win regardless. I don't think so.

Samuel Jackson's Tweet below sums up that call the DPI call nicely. These threads and the national sentiment on this topic proves it out.

Can Anybody other than a Cowboy fan explain that call?!
6:16 PM - 4 Jan 2015

You do remember how sick you felt on the Blades interference calll? Well I'm pretty sure that's how Lions fans felt after that gut punch. It sure reeked of home cookin. That is part of the backlash from football fans everywhere. We have never seen that before and in a situation like that? Come on


Anyways, I'm done on this. Good luck on Sunday.

MJ

ymarea

Your argument simply doesn't hold water. First of all, I did no math. Second, you say "if" the Lions score, then what? The point is, it can't be definitively stated that they would have scored (even you said "if"), nor can we possibly know what would have happened if they had.

Your narrative that that single play turned the game, and thus carried more weight then any other would have to assume that the game had been pristinely officiated up to and after that play. It most certainly wasn't. It was the typically flawed officiating, as well as the player performance, that created the circumstance that existed when that play occurred. One can not selectively chose one officiating gaffe, ignoring the myriad others, and intelligently make the claim that the one gaffe was more significant than all the others. It's all cumulative.

To answer your and Mr. Jackson's question, Pete Morelli (sp?) explained the call. Jackson and you may not be satisfied with the explanation, but the fact that you both ignore it displays a bias, and an unwillingness to view the game objectively.


Edited to correct spelling errors.

Justacommeman

<< <i>Your argument simply doesn't hold water. First of all, I did no math. Second, you say "if" the Lions score, then what? The point is, it can't be definitively stated that they would have scored (even you said "if"), nor can we possibly know what would have happened if they had.

Your narrative that that single play turned the game, and thus carried more weight then any other would have to assume that the game had been pristinely officiated up to and after that play. It most certainly wasn't. It was because of the typically flawed officiating, as well as the player performance, that created the circumstance that existed when that play occurred. One can not selective chose one officiating gaffe, ignoring they myriad others, and intelligently make the claim that the one gaffe was more significant than all the others. It's all cumulative.

To answer yours and Mr. Jackson's question, Pete Morelli (sp?) explained the call. He and you may not be satisfied with the explanation, but the fact that you both ignore displays a bias, and an unwillingness to view the game objectively. >>



Yep, a true Cowboy fan.

All penalties are not created equal.

I guess my post above was my second to last. I ask forgiveness.

Geez

MJ