Nothing is worse when you are watching a sports game than to see a ref blow an obvious call. Unfortunately for Lions fans, that happened on December 30th when Detroit was taking on Dallas in a much-anticipated clash of NFC powerhouses. Down 7 and with 20 seconds left, the Lions scored a touchdown to make the score 19-20, meaning that an extra point could tie the game and take it to overtime. However, Dan Campbell, the Lion’s Head Coach, decided to risk it all and go for 2 to decide the game on that play. On a crafty trick play, Lions Offensive tackle Taylor Decker snuck out to the left side of the endzone and caught a wide-open touchdown, seemingly sealing the game for the Lions. However, the refs called illegal touching on Decker for not having reported himself as an eligible receiver, therefore negating the conversion. The Lions would have another try called back for a penalty, and ultimately failed to convert, meaning they lost the game. However, upon later review, video evidence surfaced showing that Decker did report as eligible to a referee (right). The ref mistakenly marked his teammate down as eligible for the play instead, ultimately costing the Lions the game.
However, karma may have come back to haunt the Cowboys since they ended up losing their wildcard matchup with the Packers, while the Lions defeated the Rams. Thus the Lions have ended up better than the Cowboys, and only time will tell if they can make a deep playoff push.
