The Lions return to Dallas on Sunday 9½ months after their controversial loss last season. Here’s an excerpt from the Free Press book “From Grit to Glory!” that chronicled the Lions’ 2023 renaissance. The hardcover book is available through Pediment Publishing .
What happened between the Detroit Lions , the Dallas Cowboys, Taylor Decker and Dan Skipper?
If the Lions never had to play another game at AT&T Stadium it would be too soon.
Nine years after the Lions lost a playoff game to the Dallas Cowboys after officials picked up a penalty flag for pass interference, they suffered another gut punch at the hands of officials.
Jared Goff rallied the Lions to a touchdown with 23 seconds to play only to have the go-ahead 2-point conversion nullified by an illegal touching penalty on left tackle Taylor Decker. The Lions failed on two more 2-point attempts, including an interception that was nullified by an offsides penalty on Dallas, and the Cowboys recovered the ensuing onside kick for a controversial 20-19 victory.
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At issue on the Lions’ first 2-point play — a pass from Goff to Decker that appeared to give the Lions a one-point lead — was which offensive lineman reported as an eligible receiver.
Decker said afterward that he went to referee Brad Allen and declared himself eligible, and video of the moments before the play show Decker and right tackle Penei Sewell approaching Allen behind the line of scrimmage as swing tackle Dan Skipper ran on the field as an extra offensive lineman, which he had done several times during the game.
Allen announced that Skipper was eligible before the play, and he reiterated that account in a pool interview after the game. Lions coach Dan Campbell, beyond incensed after the penalty, said days later he initially did not hear Allen announce that Skipper was the eligible receiver because of the crowd noise — plenty from thousands of Lions fans on this Saturday night — and had no recourse to change the play once he realized that happened because he was out of timeouts.
Video also showed that before the Lions huddled, quarterback Jared Goff approached Decker, put his arm on him, said something and pointed him in the direction of the referee. Goff said he told Decker to report as eligible and that he did. Decker insisted that he did.
“All I really want to say on it, just so I don’t get myself into trouble, is I did exactly what Coach told me to do and went to the ref, said report, and yeah, I don’t know,” Decker said. “It was my understanding, too, that Dan brings up the possibility of those sorts of plays pregame so I did what I was told to do and did how we did it in practice all week. That’s probably all I’m really going to touch on with that.”
Campbell said he detailed every trick play his team might use with officials before games. “I explain everything pregame, to a T,” he said. Campbell said he showed Allen a diagram of the play before the game.
“Had it on a piece of paper, our play,” Campbell said. “What our players have. All I can do is talk through it, that’s all I can do.”
He argued vehemently with Allen and other officials after the penalty. He summarized their retort: “Seventy (Skipper) reported, 68 (Decker) didn’t, we threw it to 68, that was the explanation.”
Did Dan Skipper report?
Skipper, whose hands were up by his chest as he ran on the field — linemen typically rubbed the numbers on their jersey with both hands to indicate they were an eligible receiver — said he did not report as eligible.
“I didn’t say anything, let’s move along," he said in a terse postgame interview. “I did not say a word to the official. I’d like to not (expletive) get fined. Thanks, guys. Sorry.”
Video showed Skipper after the penalty call walking toward the sideline, removing his helmet and turning around to scream toward the officials, “I didn’t say a (expletive) word!”
Allen, in his pool report, said Skipper reported as eligible and Decker did not.
“So, we had a situation where if you were going to have an ineligible number occupy an eligible position, you have to report that to the referee,” Allen said. “On this particular play, No. 70, who had reported during the game a couple of times, reported to me as eligible. Then he lined up at the tackle position. So, actually, he didn’t have to report at all. No. 68, who ended up going downfield and touching the pass, did not report. Therefore, he is an ineligible touching a pass that goes beyond the line, which makes it a foul. So, the issue is, No. 70 did report, No. 68 did not.”
Allen said that he told the Cowboys’ defense that Skipper was reporting as eligible before the snap, and that a second flag was thrown on the play for illegal formation because Skipper, as an eligible receiver, lined up inside Sewell on the right side of the offensive line.
Goff, who argued voraciously against the penalty as officials huddled to discuss it on the field, said he was “pretty confused” when he saw the flag on the ground.
“What I do know, and I don’t know if I’ll get fined for this, but I do know that Decker reported, I do know that Dan Skipper did not and I do know that they said that Dan Skipper did,” he said. “It’s unfortunate.”
Video also showed that as Decker and Sewell reached Allen, standing at the 15-yard line on the right hash mark, the referee’s focus appeared to be on Skipper jogging in his direction from off the field. With Skipper still more than five yards away, Allen turned away and started jogging along the hash mark toward the Cowboys. At one point, Decker and Sewell were right in Allen’s face, although he did not appear to acknowledge their presence; Skipper never was within two yards of Allen.
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Campbell said the Lions had three linemen approach Allen during the reporting process to confuse the Cowboys. Skipper (No. 70) had reported eligible previously, and Decker (No. 68) and Sewell (No. 58) wore similar numbers.
Two days later, Campbell explained the strategy: “If you’re running a play like that and 70 is your jumbo tight end and they know that because that’s what he does for you, and then you’re going to decide you’re going to make 68 eligible and he walks over to the ref and then the ref stands over 68 before the play and they hold the ball and they stand over and point at him, do you think you’re going to be able to throw the ball to 68?
“No, so it’s about eligibility. That’s what it’s about. And it has nothing to do with the ref. The ref knows. He knows, because 68 reported. It’s for the defense so that they see three different people, and you’re just hoping they happen to not hear that it’s 70. That’s all.”
The NFL sent a teaching video and memo to teams intimating that Skipper was in the wrong because of a hand gesture he made while jogging onto the field. Skipper, though, said he was simply signaling a change in personnel.
“So personnel, you signal in,” Skipper said at midweek. “I wasn’t like this.” He wiped his numbers with his hands. “I was not doing that. I was doing this, signaling 12 jumbo.” He held one arm up and the other by his stomach with two fingers out, meaning the formation would include two tight ends. “Everyone who’s played at this level, I’m sure all you guys know, that you signal in personnel.”
What happened after the penalty?
The Lions (11-5) still had chances to win after the penalty and end the Cowboys’ 15-game home winning streak.
Rather than attempt the tying extra point, the Lions kept their offense on the field to go for two from the 7-yard line, a decision Campbell explained as, “We were going for the win.”
Wide receiver Kalif Raymond was open in the back of the end zone on the second 2-point attempt, but Goff was hit as he threw by Osa Odighizuwa, and Markquese Bell intercepted the pass on the goal line.
However, Dallas pass rusher Micah Parsons was offsides on the play, giving the Lions a third 2-point try, this time from 3½ yards out. Tight end James Mitchell couldn’t hold onto a low Goff pass in the left flat short of the goal line.
“We had two more shots at it,” Goff said. “Didn’t get either of them, but yeah, it’s unfortunate it came down to what it did. …
“There was no, ‘Ah, the fix is in.’ It’s not that. They just messed it up and it happens, and it’s part of the game. But, unfortunately, it happened on that play.”
Goff finished 19-for-34 passing for 271 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. He threw for 75 yards on the Lions’ final drive, completing five pass attempts (not including three spikes to stop the clock) to Amon-Ra St. Brown and Sam LaPorta.
Two passes to LaPorta moved the Lions from their 25 into Cowboys territory. After reaching the Dallas 11 with passes to St. Brown and LaPorta, Goff hit an uncovered St. Brown on a short out route for an easy touchdown as he dove across the pylon.
St. Brown finished with six catches for 90 yards, and LaPorta caught seven passes for 84 yards, which set a franchise record for receiving yards by a tight end (860).
With Dallas trailing, 13-10, early in the fourth quarter, Dak Prescott led a nine-play, 75-yard drive capped with an eight-yard touchdown pass to Brandin Cooks to give the Cowboys a 17-13 lead. Cooks had kept the drive alive with an acrobatic catch on a third-and-five for a 21-yard gain.
After the go-ahead touchdown, Goff threw his second interception two possessions later. But Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy mismanaged the clock, settling for a 43-yard field goal but leaving the Lions enough time to mount their final drive. McCarthy called three pass plays after the two-minute warning, when the Lions had two timeouts remaining. One of Prescott’s passes fell incomplete, giving the Lions an extra 40 seconds or so of possession.
Prescott was 26 of 38 passing for 345 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. CeeDee Lamb had a career-high 13 catches for 227 yards and scored on a 92-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter, when linebacker Derrick Barnes failed to wrap up Prescott for a safety in the end zone.
At his Monday news conference, Campbell said the loss left him with a case of “controlled fury” that he intended to channel in other directions. “I’m over it,” he said, revealing that team president Rod Wood would handle all dialogue with the league.
“We’re on a mission, and we’re not going to feel sorry for ourselves and wallow in everything,” Campbell said. “We had plays to make, we didn’t make them. And it’s a tight game, a good opponent, playoff-type atmosphere, and you’ve got to make that one extra play that we didn’t.
“So we will use this as fuel. I got pure octane right now.”
Did the blown 2-pointer affect the NFC playoff race?
At 11-5, the Lions were tied with the Cowboys for the third-best record in the NFC, behind San Francisco and Philadelphia at 11-4. Lions coach Dan Campbell said he expected to see the Cowboys again in the playoffs “in a couple weeks.” He added: “It’ll be good.” Defensive end Aidan Hutchinson longed for a rematch. “My mentality is screw it,” he said. “I’d rather beat them in the playoffs anyway.”
The next day, the Eagles were upset by Arizona and the 49ers beat Washington, ensuring that San Francisco would be the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs and Dallas would be the No. 2 seed (as NFC East champ) with a victory over 12-loss Washington in Week 18. Win or lose against Minnesota at Ford Field, the Lions were likely to be the No. 3 seed but guaranteed to play at least one home playoff game for the first time since the 1993 season.
The 2-point controversy reverberated across the football-mad country. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that many of the officials on Brad Allen’s crew would be “downgraded” and not allowed to work playoff games. Rehashed was a Week 13 game between the Chiefs and Packers on “Sunday Night Football”in which Allen’s crew did not call a pass interference penalty on a late deep pass to Kansas City’s Marquez Valdes-Scantling, a play anyone not wearing a block of cheddar on his or her head would have viewed as obvious illegal contact. Schefter, a Michigan alum, said on “SportsCenter:”“The league has a huge issue here, where there’s controversy over officiating. No matter who is right and who is wrong, it’s Sunday morning of Week 17 and we’re talking about whether the officials got a call right that threatens to impact the entire playoff picture. It’s ridiculous!”
Were the Detroit Lions the victim of a conspiracy?
As irate as offensive lineman Dan Skipper and coach Dan Campbell were on the field over the nullified 2-point conversion, Lions fans were over the moon furious and spouting conspiracy theories about how, as usual, their team was hosed by officials and, especially, treated like pond scum in Dallas.
Columnist Shawn Windsor addressed the angst in the Free Press: “You’re mad about your Lions. Angry. Apoplectic, even. You’re frothy, outraged and gutted. Some of you may even be convinced the NFL nudged Dallas over the finish line for conspiratorial reasons, and it’s not hard to understand the thinking after what happened at AT&T Stadium in 2014 during the playoffs.
“But if the league is in cahoots with the Cowboys, it’s doing a poor job of getting them over; they haven’t won a Super Bowl in decades and are just 4-9 in the postseason this century.
"So, while the conspiratorial anger may feel good in the moment — and help defuse and redirect the disappointment — it’s best to acknowledge the officials made an unintentional mistake, that Brad Allen either misheard or just plain didn’t hear Taylor Decker when he walked over to declare himself eligible for the impending 2-point try.
“Tripping and holding and pass interference, penalties that get called or don’t get called, are a matter of judgment. Officials miss them. Players live with that. But this? Mistaking the player who reported eligible?
“It’s a matter of incompetence, not judgment. It’s a matter of not hearing, of not being in tune with the rules during a stoppage in play. It’s mistaking one lineman for another at the most critical of times, and then giving the defense the wrong information.
“This is what stings. It stings more because of what was at stake. Not just the loss of a potential higher seed in the NFC playoffs, but the Lions’ chance to make a statement — to other teams, yes, but also to themselves.”
Quotable
Lions linebacker Alex Anzalone: “I feel like, at the end of the day, we lost the game, and we have to look at ourselves in the mirror and see what we can do better and not let it come down to a single play on the road.”
Referee Brad Allen, on why two penalty flags were thrown on the 2-point attempt: “Because No. 70 reported as eligible and he was covered up on the line of scrimmage, that makes it an illegal formation. So No. 70 is in an illegal position because he is covered up by rule, and No. 68 catches the pass, which is also illegal.”
From the press box
What Free Press writers had to say at the time:
Dave Birkett: “I love Dan Campbell’s aggressiveness. He’s good for a fake punt in most big games, and there was no doubt he was going for two and the victory after the Lions scored late. But once Decker was penalized for illegal touching, I thought Campbell should have stood down and kicked the extra point rather than try for another 2-point conversion from the 7.”
Carlos Monarrez: “Well, it finally happened. Dan Campbell has been Lionized. It’s not Campbell’s fault because this team, this franchise, just has a special way of driving every coach a little crazy at some point. Ask Bobby Ross, who just up and quit. Ask Rod Marinelli about believing in the invisible or Jim Schwartz about handshakes or Jim Caldwell about dungeons of doom or Matt Patrica about slouching reporters. At some point in the tenure of every Lions coach, things go catawampus, and men are driven into despair they’ve never known. So welcome to the club, Coach. We have jackets.”
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions vs. Dallas Cowboys controversy: What happened with Taylor Decker, Dan Skipper
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