You think you hate the refs enough, but you don't.

[12AngryHawks]

For the salary & benefits these guys get, they sure have a lot of nerve.

NFL reminds players to 'clearly' report as eligible

The NFL distributed a video reminding players who wear Nos. 50-79 or 90-99 to "clearly" communicate with the referee when reporting as eligible receivers.

www.espn.com

 

[Torc]

I don't hate the refs at all. And this communication from the league is fantastic, given that the Lions were intentionally trying to confuse the issue.

 

[Cyrus12]

Told what to do like any underling..they might lose their jobs otherwise.

 

[OneLofaTatupu]

Meh. Of course the NFL is going to back them - imagine the officials saying “they put us up to it” and shitting all over their NDAs. Wouldn’t be good.

 

[Threedee]

Why should we expect NFL refs to notice when a player reports as eligible?

 

[Jegpeg]

Without having access to an on pitch mike but I am prepared to believe the refs got this right. Decker did approach the ref but so did a couple of other players including Dan Skipper. The Refs announce Dan Skipper was reported as eligible so the Cowboys believe Decker was ineligable. We do not know where the Lions or the Refs messed up with that but as soon as the announcemet was made it was up to the Lions to correct things, otherwise players could do all sorts of things to declare themselves in a way that the refs might misinterpret what they say..

 

[Ozzy]

The refs absolutely failed and it’s obvious what happened. You can see Decker report from multiple angles and the ref just got the numbers mixed up. Rex Ryan said they did everything the league tells them to do to a tee

 

[Torc]

We're missing one piece, and that's the audio of the actual conversation between the players and the ref. The Lions sent THREE linemen over to talk to the ref - 53, 63 and 70. Why, exactly? Did 63 need his hand held or something? We know the ref pointed at #70 while he was still on his way over, and went to the defense to let them know that a player had reported as eligible. We have the audio of the ref announcing that #70 had reported, and the Lions had the opportunity to correct that but didn't.

I remain unconvinced that this was entirely referee error.

 

[cymatica]

Without having access to an on pitch mike but I am prepared to believe the refs got this right. Decker did approach the ref but so did a couple of other players including Dan Skipper. The Refs announce Dan Skipper was reported as eligible so the Cowboys believe Decker was ineligable. We do not know where the Lions or the Refs messed up with that but as soon as the announcemet was made it was up to the Lions to correct things, otherwise players could do all sorts of things to declare themselves in a way that the refs might misinterpret what they say..

We're missing one piece, and that's the audio of the actual conversation between the players and the ref. The Lions sent THREE linemen over to talk to the ref - 53, 63 and 70. Why, exactly? Did 63 need his hand held or something? We know the ref pointed at #70 while he was still on his way over, and went to the defense to let them know that a player had reported as eligible. We have the audio of the ref announcing that #70 had reported, and the Lions had the opportunity to correct that but didn't.

I remain unconvinced that this was entirely referee error.

This is false. #58 and #68 walked over to the ref. #68 Decker was the only one who verbally reported and swiped his Jersey, #70 was not with them and was jogging over. The ref Brad Allen never even looked or pointed at #70 and was turned around jogging over to the Cowboys when #70 made it to #58 and #68. The reason Brad Allen reported #70 was because #70 reported twice already earlier in the game and Brad Allen had a brain fart and assumed #70 without even really paying attention. This is all clear when you watch the footage.

As for the announcement of the eligible receiver. The offense is busy getting lined up and focused on the play at hand, they most likely tune out announcements on the loud speaker when thinking about the play coming up and lining up. Same with the coaches who know what play is coming and have to deal with a million other things going through their head. And even if someone did catch it, they would then have to go back to the ref and correct him, which would completely screw up the plan for that play.

Bottom line is the ref wasn't paying attention and was just going through the motions, he then doubled down and claimed #70 reported which just showed either he wasn't paying attention or he was lying. The NFL should be handing out a notice to refs to pay attention because #68 clearly reported exactly how he was supposed to.

 

[Torc]

Sorry, I did get the numbers wrong (58 and 68 walked over, not 53 and 63).

This is an interesting video; basically the premise here is that the ref is looking for a specific hand signal, which the video shows Skipper doing on other plays and the hand signal that he used to declare himself eligible. Then, on the two point conversion, he makes that same signal. The ref DOES look over at him, sees the signal, and that's when he goes to the cowboys to report #70 as eligible. In an extremely loud stadium, it makes sense that they'd use a visual sign instead of relying on shouting at the ref.



Even if you discount all of that, the refs should have called an illegal formation anyway. Same result.