(WXYZ) — It was another controversial referee call as the Detroit Lions took on the Dallas Cowboys, eventually losing to the Cowboys 20-19.
After driving down the field, the Lions went for two and Jared Goff threw a pass to Taylor Decker, an offensive lineman, to get the two-point conversion.
However, a flag was thrown for illegal touching, with the referee saying Decker didn't report as eligible.
Social media quickly blew up with video showing Decker talking to the referee before the play.
NFL Rule 8, Section 1, Article 6 on Ineligible Receivers says "Offensive players wearing numbers 50–79, unless they have reported a change in their eligibility status to the Referee and have assumed a position on their line or in their backfield as required by Article 5."
On Twitter, Dan Orlovsky shared the video and asked the question, "Why would Decker walk up to official and not report? I guess maybe he didn’t but odd to walk there and not no?"
"Taylor Decker walks over to the official and you only do that if you're telling the official you're reporting as an eligible. I don't know if he just didn't hear that or what. They only said Dan Skipper reported, but the evidence is on the tape," Troy Aikman said after the game on the ESPN broadcast.
In the locker room after the game, Decker spoke to the media.
"All I really want to say on it, just so I don't get myself in trouble, is I did exactly what coach told me to do. Went to the ref, said report, and yeah, I don't know," he said.
Head coach Dan Campbell also spoke and said it was explained that 70 reported. Visibly frustrated, he said, "I don't want to talk about it."
The call also sent Lions fans back to the 2015 playoff game against the Cowboys where a pass interference call on the Cowboys was picked up.
After the game, Brad Allen, the referee in the game, explained the flag.
"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. On this particular play, number 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. Number 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, number 70 did report, number 68 did not."
