THE REFS WERE RIGHT: NFL Releases Video EXPLAINING Taylor Decker ILLEGAL TOUCHING | Lions vs Cowboys 

Now let the Same nfl experts explain the botched tripping call that even allowed the lions to even touch the ball.

Well this is a real head-scratcher. The NFL says the officiating crew didn't screw up so they punished them by making them ineligble for playoff duty. Go figure!

Supposedly, the lions met with the refs before the gane started and discussed this exact play. The female sideline? Ref can be heard saying that it was 68 and word meeting. Not sure why the nfl would ban the crew if they were right all along.

At the 3 min mark in your video - it appears that Decker is signaling with his right hand against his chest that he is reporting as eligible on his way to talk to Brad Allen. It appears Decker correctly hand signaled and verbally confirmed his intentions to be eligible to Allen. Not sure what Skipper was trying to do since despite him appearing to signal to Allen (but not clear Allen saw him) he didn’t appear to verbally confirm with Allen that he was eligible.

Let's say you are correct. Why wasn't #68 flagged for illegal formation at the snap? He was the last person on the line of scrimmage on the left.

also, more than one player can report... why would the ref totally ignore the player in his face saying "reporting" even if he THOUGHT 70 was reporting(which he wasnt)??

Fact is.. if Mike McCarthy could manage a clock, none of these scenarios would have even happened, period!! 🤔

2:25 When you freeze the replay of Skipper running in, he's signalling for #11 to leave the huddle & go to the sideline so they don't get a 12-men in huddle penalty, and also communicating with #8, not addressing Allen at all. In this same freeze-frame, Decker is leaving the huddle directly toward Allen, and he DOES have his hand/arm across the front of his uniform.

The flexed arm Skipper is motioning is not intended for the referee. His gesture is intended as a communication to his teammates to acknowledge that we are shifting into a "heavy" or "strong" formation. Skipper's hand signal lets his teammates know who he is being subbed in for. Notice how the same hand signal was used by Skipper in both of your examples and how Kalif simultaneously removes himself from the huddle in both examples.

It wasn’t on accident. It was orchestrated. All three lineman meeting with the ref at the same time was on purpose they had been setting it up with 70 all game. It was also intentional to send 68 and 58 up there. It was creative but as it turned out too creative.

So....if the Referee(s) did NOT botch all this, then WHY did the NFL impose the punishment they did?

I was at the game , all the announcer said over the sound system was that number 70 was an eligible receiver.....

If You were right... DONT U THINK THE NFL WOULD HAVE THEIR BACK ... INSTEAD... of Suspending those Refs from the Playoffs..???

Penei Sewell is covered by a receiver, so he is lined up legally. Which formation rule do you think he is violating?

Skipper was trying to get the Cowboys to see him report but not have the ref see. Decker was trying to get the ref to see him report but not the Cowboys. Just a little too much trickeration.

If the rule says that you have to do BOTH visual and verbal communication with the ref to complete the sign and skipper said he didn’t SAY anything then did he report?

Thank u so much for explaining in detail like that. I've been saying that the Lions were trying to pull a "Belicheck" type sneaky bend but not break the rules move here but it backfired on them. I didn't know anything about that belly rub thing lol. Thanks again!

From watching this angle it looks like the Lions knew that the ref was telling the Cowboys that #70 was reporting and they just let it go hoping that they would get away with it. Obviously if they ran up to the ref and said *"NOOO! It's #68 not #70"* that would tip their hand, so they just said nothing hoping that no flag would be thrown. I hate to think that because it's cheating, but it sure looks that way.

There’s a angle of video where decker is doing the signal. Go through the tapes before you just release something. Decker does to do it actually exactly when you freeze frame apparently skipper doing it.. watch back through the tapes

The visual indicators were for the receiver to exit the formation flexing an arm to indicate strong or heavy not a swipe of the jersey to indicate eligibility, every other time he reported he spoke to the referee

You can hear the ref tell #70 eligible over the loud speaker i hear it.......

The Lions are 0 and 6 when Brad Allen has a whistle in his pie-hole and on the same field. Brady knew what he was doing.

Sorry but the data used in this analysis was so incomplete that it made it inaccurate. Several things not considered here: 1. This exact play including the players involved was previewed with the refs pregame 2. Skip never talked to the ref, you can confirm that in the complete video - he simply ran up to Deck and another player talking to the ref in order to deceive the defense but said nothing. 3. There is a high def close-up video that shows the ref nodding his head in acknowledgement after Deck said something (reported) to him. 4. There was not an illegal formation: it is what's called an unbalanced formation, so Deck was basically lined up as a tight end, while the other side had 2 tackles. You can do that, so long as you have 7 total at the line of scrimmage. 5. Offenses try to deceive defenses all day long; that does not excuse the officiating crew from making mistakes based on how the teams try to trick each other! 6. The two point conversion was officially called as successful by the officiating crew on the field & was on the scoreboard for over 15"; there were no flags until 17 seconds had lapsed. The flag/reversal came from upstairs. How is that possible if the rationale was that #68 did not report? 7. While the lions could have noticed and corrected the overhead announcement that # 70 was reporting as an eligible they're all engaged in the game at this point and feel that the communication has been made it is certainly not their responsibility to police the stadium announcement. That's absurd.

It's unf'nbelievable that no one is talking about how a tripping call is enforced against the wrong team? That call changed the whole final 2 minutes of the game!

phantom tripping and no holds drawn for micah lol

This is stupid. What about 68 being in the refs face saying he's reporting verbally. The ref assumed and didn't stop to figure it out. He acted like the clock was running and ran away

They were so right they dubbed the stadium announcement over the Telemundo broadcast but forgot to do the English broadcast 😅😅

That's why the NFL apologized and won't allow this ref crew from working any playoff games, right? Because they were correct? LOL...too funny. It's obvious #68 reported...there is no other reason for #68 to be talking to the ref.

The ref ignores #68 when he walks directly up to him 2:56. The refs botched this, they gave Dallas the wrong information and now they can't undo their mistake.

Maybe if Brad Allen had made the pre-game meeting he would have been better at his job. Maybe its time to have a better way for the coach to pass this info along from the booth people.

Ref announced the wrong player.

Wow, are people this stupid? Skipper reporting as eligible the whole game is part of the trick play. Deckker walked up to the ref to report as Skipper came in was to throw Dallas off. Also, if Deckker wasnt eligible as soon as the ball was snapped a flag shouldve been thrown for illegal formation, it took 30 seconds after the conversation. Maybe if people actually played football instead of sitting on the couch you would know the rules and how plays and trick plays work 😂😂

Even tho u did say that u don't like the cowboys I respect ur honesty & yeah im be very biased 😂😂😂 im gonna like & sub bro good video

I have a couple of questions regarding your video. I apologize if these questions have already been asked. The official was walking away before #70 even had a chance to talk to him, however it is stated that the player must visually and verbally report to the official. Therefore, according to that neither of the players correctly reported. Also, is it an illegal formation if the official called the correct number?

And why did it take over 30 seconds to throw the flags?

The Lions formation made Decker the only eligible down lineman.

Listening to this is just confirmation that you can’t trust journalists. Here’s what the NFL rule book says about reporting as an eligible receiver: “[P]rovided that he immediately reports the change in his eligibility status to the Referee, who will inform the defensive team. He must participate in such eligible or ineligible position as long as he is continuously in the game, but prior to each play he must again report his status to the Referee, who will inform the defensive team. The game clock shall not be stopped, and the ball shall not be put in play until the Referee takes his normal position.” Nothing about waving your hands or visual declarations.

Detroit shouldn't be doing this nonsense with the game on the line. Play stupid games..win stupid prizes.

There is an inherit problem with everyone's analysis on this play. It's clear that Penei Sewell #58 and Taylor Decker #68 are going to talk to the Ref as the two original tackles. It's also likely to be a discussion about who will be eligible on this play and to make it clear that it's one of them for the first time in the game. There is no other possible reason for them both going up to talk to the Ref at the same time. Dan Skipper #70 clearly never had words with the Ref to verbally commit to being eligible so there is no way to override the more likely direct conversation. There is no other way that Penei Sewell, one of the Offense Captains, starts the play covering Skipper before he motions down to cover him in a clear off-balanced line formation. Note the positions of the other two receivers on that side of the line which clearly show that Penei was clearly not eligible either. No lineman dreaming of an eligiable catch is going to let three people cover him when he's declared eligible. There is no way that Jarod Goff, as the other Offense Captain, throws the ball to Decker if he isn't the eligible receiver when it was clear he directed Decker to have the conversation with the Ref in the first place. The Ref blew it and got confused by the previous work to setup this play. The NFL is simply trying to cover this up with this "informational" film to help cover their mistake and prevent similar problems in the future. The Lions' mistake is that they didn't stop the play after the announcement, but how do you do that without being penalized by the play clock counting down??? Hmm, interesting to note that this "important training film" doesn't mention how the team should react with the Ref mistakenly announces the wrong eligible receiver. Do you honestly think this Ref is going to restart the play clock for his mistake??? Where is the explaination of how to handle the improper announcement. Does the offense loose a timeout, have to throw a challenge flag???

You didn't mention that Dan Campbell told the officials before the game started that they would be doing this.... So the officials knew beforehand this was going to happen and still fucked it up....

What a joke, Lions got screwed there and so many other times. The NFL has no real integrity and the officials are horrible, despite the fact that they have more tools than ever before to go back and double check things and avoid literally giving the game to another team in the last seconds of a game.

I like how your thumbnail shows 2 players, neither which are #70.

Another argument is since Decker was not announced as an eligible receiver, the Cowboys didn’t cover him, which is why he was wide open for the catch in the end zone. Had he been reported as eligible, they would have had someone on him.

Maybe you should have recorded the training video that was sent out to all teams with the memo because your video described the process a LOT more clearly than the official NFL video.

So if you have to do both, on that 2PT play, #70 gave the visual indication but never the verbal so why was he reported as an eligible receiver? It appears like neither one did both.

Can you post the announcement to the stadium of who the eligible player by the ref is? I’ve watched the end of the game several times and didn’t hear it.

"You don't see at all Decker rub his belly" as he's literally rubbing his belly for the second time in the clip

So you can see through Skipper rubbing his belly 😂

at the 4:09 mark you have 70 circled to show he's got his hand on his jersey... but he's like 30 yards away from the ref... at this SAME EXACT MOMENT look what 68 is doing... he's walking directly toward the ref, rubbing his jersey, and THEN gets right in front of the ref and says "reporting" and touches his jersey again... Whereas, 70 never arrives to speak to the ref, before the ref walks away. Take a look! 68 did both things required (according to this video) and 70 only rubbed his jersey, but he was so far away there was no reason to even think the ref saw him. THEN after all that, the ref saw 70 line up as a tackle and didn't think anything of it... beside getting in a ref's face, rubbing your jersey and saying "reporting" ... what is a player supposed to do? why was that ref running away as 68 was trying to communicate with him? No clock was running... no need to hurry.... the ref simply ASSUMED 70 would report and somehow ignored the player right in his face.

There looks like some level of deception by the Lions. I don't know if Lions had a timeout, but when you hear the wrong eligible number announced, call a timeout.

Says Decker doesn't signal eligible by rubbing his stomach while paused on a frame of Decker signaling eligible by rubbing his stomach....

That dude just said Monday night football 😂

My biggest problem with how the ref acted is, why is he so quick to run away from the players who are clearly trying to communicate something to him. Like how was decker supposed to report when the ref runs away the sec he gets close to him? Just take your time, get it right

Officials did such an outstanding job that the NFL broke them up.

You can literally see Decker rubbing his chest in the video, and you say it has to be BOTH verbal and signed… only Decker does both. Also, you’re wrong about the formation being illegal. It’s fine.

Wow , having watch the NFL from the 1960's I have never heard of the rule you must rub tummy and hold arm up. So I must have learned something that non of the announcers have ever said on TV. I have always thought that you told the Ref if you are the player running the Tackle eligible play.

I’m confused about the rules for the line of scrimmage. There must be at least seven players on the line of scrimmage. To be an eligible receiver who is on the line of scrimmage you must be on either end of the line for a maximum of two eligible receivers on the line of scrimmage. That is very clear, but it’s unclear whether there must be two eligible receivers on the line of scrimmage. In other words, can one of the players that’s at the end of one side of the line of scrimmage be a tackle who is ineligible? Some commenters on these RU-vids say say no but I think the rule book might be ambiguous about this point due to imprecise language. “Eligible receivers must be on both ends of the line of scrimmage” might merely mean “if you want to be an eligible receiver you have to be at one end of the line of scrimmage”. People say 68 Decker was ineligible no matter what because he was the last on the left side end of the line of scrimmage after 70 was announced as eligible on the right. I looked for rules about an unbalanced line and found one description that said a team can give up one potential eligible receiver in some unbalanced lines.

Then why the fk is everyone crying about it when you can clearly see that 70 fkd up

3:23 of your video Decker is swiping his jersey. The arm up in the air is a teammate substitution signal. Skipper never swipes his jersey. Oh, and Skipper checked in eligible exactly ONE TIME during the game according to TJ Lang.

It still falls on the official. So if Skipper did that and Decker told him that he was eligible wouldn't you think that the referee would say to Decker "wait a minute are you reporting as eligible or is Skipper because he is giving me the signal"

It doesn’t matter now, the Lions are still in it after their win over the LA Rams on Sunday, and the Dallas Cowboys are out. The Lions are playing the Buccaneers this Sunday, it’s time to move on.

The trouble is that the audio you hear on the clip here is from a play about 4 minutes previous and not from this play.

How TF do you not see at 2:37 that Decker is line of sight of the ref touching his jersey the way he's supposed to. From that angle the ref would have to have amazing preferial vision to see Dan Skipper running in. You'er making some HUGE assumptions when visual evidence for where the referee is looking conterdicts your statements. Until the audio of the game is released and I doubt the NFL will the two players directly in front of the referee with one of them making the proper gesture is the only thing that makes logical sense without the referee somehow not paying attention to what's exactly in front of him and without looking is drastically more interested in a guy running in from his blind side. By alignement where Dan Skipper lines up he can not be an elegible receiver. That wasn't called, and they didn't throw multiple flags or indicate multiple penalties. Dan Skipper didn't go out for a pass, so focusing on him IN the play wasted time. Sewell specifically CAN do what he did because he starts the formation off the line in a two point stance, THEN he motions and CAN be in a three point stance. ASRB is in his correct spot on the line to make it legal. When is it "cute" to have one of the TEAM CAPTIANS talking to the referee about a trick play? It's "cute" to have the player the play is designed for talk to the referee? Thank you for not explaining that Decker was in a proper alignement with the WR on his side. Or showing that by design the WR on Decker's side is specifically ment to run a route to rub the defender that should be covering Decker, which the WR does. It's a very good play design and you didn't talk about the half of the play that worked as intended.

where you at now rex ryan and all the liars in the nfl media?

The NFL investigated itself and cleared itself of wrongdoing.

where can i see the original video

Decker touched his Jersey

All this should be NULL AND VOID,.. because why is no one talking this much about the INCORRECT call against Dallas for TRIPPING? After the replay, it is SO obvious that it was the Lions that should have been called, therefore, Dallas would have had the ball at the 10 and either ran the clock out or kicked a field goal.. This dumb 2 pt conversion issue wouldn't even been an issue had that call been correct. Dallas wins no matter how you look at it it.. Lions just looking for an excuse..

If you watch the video #68 did rub his belly and the official was looking right at him. I'm sorry but the official made the mistake. He assumed # 70 was reporting because he had done it several times in the game. I am not a Lions or Cowboy fan. I'm blaming the official on this one.

It all comes down to who reported. It was a planned play and Decker reported. The play was even explained to the officials pre-game. The ref screwed up and the NFL refuses to admit it.

from what i've seen in interviews with former players, it seems you have the choice of doing either a chest rub OR verbally telling the official you are reporting. perhaps that is not what the rules specifically say but maybe the officials have been accepting verbal only reporting? Dean Blandino also said in an interview that the stadium announcement of who is eligible can be difficult to hear at field level, especially when the crowd is going crazy.

Besides, Decker was uncovered and eligible. It WAS a planned play period.

The video literally still proves the ref was wrong. What? 😂😂😂

Game over! Get over it. Detroit changing their name to "Detroit Cheetas" lmao

Skipper was waving at Kalif Raymond for substitution who exited the field. At the exact time :22 (while Skipper is yellow circled) on film #68 Decker makes the two hand jersey wipe gesture to Brad Allen and moves on to verbally confirm that he is tackle-eligible. Do you think Skipper left on the sideline without the coaching staff confirming what his assignment is?

Deception has its place in football, but not in a situation like this. The rules already tilt pretty heavily in favor of the offense; the defense should at least clearly know who is eligible to catch a pass. The Cowboys likely would have defended the play differently if they had known #68 was eligible.

Decker has his hand on his stomach when he started walking up to the ref. Pay attention people.

Thanks for this very clear explanation. I only watched the game highlights and have been on the side of the Lions in this, but only because I had not seen a clear explanation of the rules in conjunction with the video. What hasn't been openly explained so far, but which I have picked up on, is the possibility that the Lions wanted to confuse the defense with the crowd of linemen around the ref, making them unsure of who would actually be eligible. But why bother, if the ref still announces it? Who knows? The bottom line is, when the ref announced the eligible lineman as #70, the coach or players/captain should have corrected the ref. Sucks that the play was negated, but there isn't much excuse based on this explanation.

Stop it. Refs are rarely looking at players who are running on the field. So the question here is which one holds more weight? The visual cue while running, or decker literally going up the Allen’s FACE and TELLING him that he is the eligible reviewer. The lions didn’t hear what brad Allen said to Dallas.. Jesus Christ. The ref fucked up and the nfl will do anything to try and save face like they always do. Bro I’m a giants fan and even when we WON last year based on that BS no PI call in the last play against Washington I was mad because it’s an embarrassing way to win and doesn’t feel good at all. The refs suck point blank

BOTTOM LINE...when the ref mistakenly tells the DEFENSE that 70 is reporting...the OFFENSE is required to correct the ref before the play runs...PERIOD. Everything about the who reported and when all is a mute point.😭

The NFL The NOT FAIR LEAGUE. We're always right,everyone else is Wrong!

The point that is missed here (no pun intended) is that regardless of who’s at fault, the play could not stand because the defense was given the wrong information about who was elegible, as evidence of #68 being left uncovered. Therefore the down would have to be replayed, which it eventually was after the off sides penalty was assesed

Thanks for breaking this down for us. Go Lions!

Of course, the league is going to say something like this. They're going to try their best to cover their ass. I do NOT care what the league has to say. They make up whatever they need to in order to make things appear legit. They did it with the Calvin Johnson rule. They did it when the refs picked up the DPI flag in Dallas in 2014. They're so full of shit. The league and Brad Allen are saying that Decker, Skipper, Goff and Dan Campbell are all liars. Of course, the video THEY are showing makes it APPEAR to back up whatever they're saying. From a different angle you can, CLEARLY, see Brad Allen reacting to something coming from Decker and nods at him. Decker, says ON camera in his postgame that he reported. Skipper, ON camera in his postgame says he didn't say a word to anyone. Goff, ON camera in his postgame says he told Decker to report (which video backs up) and that he did report. So, according to the league, only Brad Allen is blameless here. It takes you THAT long to throw the flag? Was your earpiece squawking so loudly from upstairs to call SOMETHING that you figured you'd better do SOMETHING, Brad? Of course, when they convered the 2pts. I went nuts celebrating but not once did my eyes leave the TV screen because I've seen this show before. Then when that flag came out I closed my eyes and quietly said "of course". Pissed? That would be the understatement of a lifetime. Surprised? No, not really, because I've watched this team for nearly 60 years and if there's a way something can go wrong... well, we all saw it. Yeah, after the "failed" conversion, in my opinion, we should've simply kicked the extra point and taken our chances in OT, especially after your offense just drove 90 yards in roughly 90 seconds, but the bottom line is that the Lions shouldn't have had to run another play. Period. The league and Goodell can take their "explanation" and launch it to the dark side of the moon, because they're full of shit and they know it.

This is interesting and compelling but there are still questions and problems. 1st, is the eligibility reporting method from that video a rigid rule, or merely a strong recommendation to prevent penalties? Because if it's not a rigid rule, then that means you can report in other ways like how Decker did. And if it is a rigid rule, then that means we should check history and see if players have been green lit illegally in the past. That then leads to a new problem wich is, what if a player verbally reports and the ref clearly understands it, in that moment it would mean the ref cannot green light them. So what is the ref supposed to do then? Remain silent and let them garner the penalty, or inform them they forgot the procedure and that they need to go thru it? And then what if the ref doesn't remind them, or runs off and doesn't give them 2 seconds to do it? That rigid rule scenario is a convoluted mess which is why I'm having trouble buying it. What's more believable is that it's a recommendation but that simply talking to the official is also fine. There's also the simple matter of Aikman saying there's only one reason to walk over 2 the ref like that, and the ref is not so blind he can't see 2 giant dudes 3 feet from him, so this means he DELIBERATELY ignored them. Why? If the reporting rule is rigid, then it makes sense, if it's not, then the ref screwed them. Now what can clear this up which I haven't seen any video do yet, is simply post clips of other games where on field linemen reported to a nearby ref and see if 100% OF THEM RAISED THEIR HANDS AND RUBBED THEIR JERSEYS. Because if some are green lit with alternate procedures, then ALL OF THIS REFS ARE RIGHT STUFF IS BOGUS. Finally, I heard that another ref corrected Allen about 68 and Allen overruled them.

He told him he was shut up 😂😂

I call BS because Skipper never reported as per nfl guidelines: "It is the responsibility of the player to be sure that change in status is clearly communicated to the referee by both a physical signal, with his hands up and down in front of his chest, and to report to the referee his intention to report as an eligible receiver,"-NFL senior vice president Walt Anderson.

Everyone keeps harping on the point of Dan explaining the play before the game, but what nobody gets is explaining the play means nothing if he didn't also explain that they were going to send two extra linemen up at the same time when 68 was reporting to try and trick the defense. The fact that Campbell hasn't said he told the refs that part of the plan speaks volumes. He only says he told them 68 would be the eligible receiver, and gave them the play drawn up on a piece of paper.

Thx for the clarification! Good job

Watch the Toledo game. The linebacker caught a garbled pass. (Went through a receivers' hands and bounced into his). Was he just supposed to kneel?

It's clear as day when decker is walking over to the red hes wiping his Jersey as they r both looking at each other. Then he walks right up to him and says it to. These people need to watch the whole clip and not just what skipper is doing 5 feet on the field

I do not claim to know the rules and hand motions required for reporting, but this video needs to get trending if everything you are claiming is accurate. I totally agree with you that 70 made the hand motions and 68 did not. Everyone is screaming 68 reported but I saw exactly what you described. WELL DONE

Great Unbiased Take! Good Fact Based Clarification, But It still looked like to me, that the Ref was Purposely Ignoring the other (2) Lions O Linemen that approached him! I'm a Cowboys Fan!

That’s what I was explaining, but commentators have no idea what they’re talking about

The lions tried to be tricky and it backfired. Good job refs.

Watch Decker's hands. He has black gloves on. #68 doesn't try to rub his stomach until the Ref turns away tho (after he saw #70 giving the Signal, accidental or not). Decker tried to wait for the last possible moment to inform the Ref. Watch Decker's body language once the Ref turns. He hesitates and slightly moves towards the Ref (bumps into 58). I think it was because Decker waited so long to try to be tricky and thought in his head (Hmm, does the Ref know). Then just thought, Yeah he must know. Decker told us that he only said the word "Report". That's it. We do not know exactly when he says this one singular word tho. You would think that he would say it at the time he tried to rub his belly. Which would be after the Ref has turned away. I understand what the Lions wanted to do, what they tried to do. But I do think the Lions messed up. Coach tells them of several similar trick plays they might run during the game, 90 minutes prior to Kickoff. We do not know exactly *how* Campbell did this. Did he use Numbers? Did he use Positions? Did he use paper? Did he only use his words? Did he use a drawing board? We can only guess.

with all the cell phone videos you would think someone would have the stadium audio

If they were rigging it then they wouldn't have called a bogus tripping call the dallas drive before when dallas got the 1st down and Detroit only had 1 timeout left and the game is over. Nice try though

2:53 you can actually see decker touch his belly and try to mumble something to the ref. Meanwhile, 70 is mostly out of sight for the ref and doing the big song and dance in view of the defense. However as you pointed out, the ref saw this grand gesture in his periphery and ignored 68 because he was being too subtle.

Ok, now do the phantom tripping call against the Dallas TE that was actually done by Aiden Hutchison. That if was called correctly this "controversy" never had happened.