NFL fans will get what they’ve long asked for: accountability for referees. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the crew in charge of the Lions-Cowboys debacle could miss out on the playoffs as a result.
With 23 seconds to play in the game, Detroit trailed 20-19 but went for the two-point conversion to try and win rather than kick the extra point. They tried three times, but all were negated by penalties, one being an offsides on a failed attempt.
On the penultimate try, offensive lineman Taylor Decker caught the two-point score but drew a very controversial flag. Referee Brad Allen ruled Decker an ineligible receiver, saying he never alerted Allen that he eligible to receive the ball, and that it was his teammate, Dan Skipper, who reported eligible, though Skipper didn’t run a route at all.
The play was brought back and Detroit was penalized, yet still decided to try for two, and this time failed, essentially ending the ball game.
Afterwards, Decker claimed it was him, not Skipper, who reported eligible, and video evidence appeared to back that up as Decker was seen chatting with Brad Allen just before the play, while Skipper was barely near the two.
Following the apparent blunder, Adam Schefter went on SportsCenter and laid into Allen and his crew, reporting that they are likely to suffer major consequences from this incident.
“I can tell you this, in the postseason, it’s going to be mixed crews. A large part of Brad Allen’s crew is not going to be officiating in the postseason. They’re going to get downgraded and the chances are that many of them are not going to be involved in the postseason,” stated Schefter on Sunday morning.
“The league has a huge issue here where there’s a controversy over officiating. No matter who’s right and who’s 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 and there have been way, way too many instances of this this year and there are a lot of teams that are pi–ed off.”
Adam Schefter also points out that the exclusion of Allen and co. in the postseason wouldn’t be a knee-jerk reaction merely to this one ugly call, because there have been other instances of badly blown calls this season, and on crucial plays as well.
“It is not the first time that Brad Allen’s crew has made a high-profile error this season. They are regarded as a good crew, he’s a good official. But there have been any number of missed calls, including this one at the end of the game. There are other instances throughout the course of the year that the Brad Allen crew did not make (correct calls).”
This time around, the blown call looms even larger, as the Lions and Cowboys now have even records and were playing Saturday night with major playoff seeding and divisional title race implications on the line.