![]() ![]() It wouldn’t look too good seeing the stomper make it too far into the playoffs. Maybe the real reason was to make sure that Ndamukong Suh’s season is ended. He asked what he saw on the play, Morelli said, ” It’s not my responsibility. We got other information from another official from a different angle that thought the contact was minimal and didn’t warrant pass interference,” he told the pool reporter after the game. “The back judge threw his flag for defensive pass interference. 'You guys have all heard, ‘Oh, spread offense, fast, they go high-tempo, all that stuff,'' Lions. This official determined that Hitchens was face-guarding (which is not a penalty in the NFL), not interfering with Lions tight end Brandon Pettigrew. In 24 games, he completed 68.8 of his passes with 58 touchdowns to just five interceptions. Down 2723 at the nine-yard line and facing a fourth down, the Lions needed to find the end zone on this final. Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant has his TD catch reversed after a scoring review. No explanation was offered during the game, fueling the mystery.Īfter the game, Morelli said the penalty was overruled because a second official (who didn’t throw the flag) with a better view felt that there wasn’t enough contact to call a penalty. Detroit Lions Minnesota Vikings There was only four seconds left in the game. There was widespread confusion and anger when what appeared to be a clear pass interference penalty on Cowboys linebacker Anthony Hitchens with 8:25 left in the fourth quarter was reversed, even after Morelli announced it over the public address system. NFL Ref Explains Why Lions-Cowboys Penalty Call Was Mysteriously Reversed So, instead, they did something that none of the longtime football fans I’ve talked to has ever seen: negated the the penalty after it was announced, gave no explanation for their decision to pick up the flag and ignore the infraction, and decisively changed the course of the game in favor of the home team. But resisting the protests of the screaming fans and players (including Dez Bryant who was allowed to run onto the field without his helmet to yell in a ref’s face) of the NFL’s and the networks’ favorite team to make a tough, but correct, call that could have doomed their playoff chances was more than this crew could apparently handle. Even if you don’t believe in the conspiracy theories, I think most fans suspect, with some significant justification based on experience, that if the same call had been made against almost any other team in a different stadium the flag would not have been picked up. And then came instant replay.After Golden Tate appeared to score a game-winning touchdown. Unfortunately, it is situations like the phantom pass interference penalty in this game that cause fans not to trust that NFL officiating is entirely on the up and up. The Lions had what appeared to be another incredible fourth-quarter comeback victory today in Detroit.
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