The explanations don't add up -- and this video by Jomboy (who is great) misses a couple things. First, listing yourself as eligible is in no way meant to be deceptive -- in fact, sometimes the PA announcers at stadiums will call out when someone has listed as eligible. And for good reason -- when you list as eligible you are now allowed and obligated to line-up in certain positions in the formation. THIS is why I don't buy the refs explanation. IF they didn't know that 68 had reported as eligible (which they claim), then they should have thrown a flag for "illegal formation" at the beginning of the play because the Lions would have had 68 as the last man on the line of scrimmage, and you must have an eligible receiver as the last man on the line on both ends. They didn't throw that flag, BUT they did throw a flag AFTER the play was over and the Lions had taken the lead. I call bullshit.
@jeffreybrewer8649 They threw a flag for both illegal touching and illegal formation. The refs talked to each other and confirmed where the lions were lined up and then threw two flags. We can’t act like this hasn’t happened before. Something happens and the refs talk it over and then drop/pickup the flag.
@@jeffreybrewer8649 The illegal formation penalty should have come at the snap. I have yet to see anything that shows when the flag was thrown and I'm quite surprised I haven't - especially from a Lions fan. I agree with you 100% - if that flag was not thrown at the snap, you've got some serious shenanigans going on. I also agree with the deception thing being absolutely ridiculous as the ref has to tell the other team who is reporting as eligible. It's just a dumb play to try in the first place. However, if that's not what the lions were trying to do, then I'm hard pressed to come up with a rationale for 3 linemen heading over to the ref.
@@jeffreybrewer8649 I'm a biased Cowboys fan, but there is video with audio of the ref telling the defense that 70 was eligible, and also announced over the PA that 70 was eligible before the play started. He got it wrong, but the reason he got it wrong was because of the way the Lions tried to hide which one was reporting as eligible, and it ended up fooling the ref. They got this wrong, but the Cowboys also had an offensive drive killed when the refs saw Aiden Hutchinson try to trip Tony Pollard and it was incorrectly called on a Cowboy.
It was against the cowboys the league wants that controversy. Wait till the second round of the playoffs and they screw the cowboys and everyone will say it’s even now.
It really is bizarre. We have countless media types covering football ad nauseam 24-7. Over paid talking heads and gum flapping analysts telling you how it is, and not one of them broke it down like this. Nobody showed 70 running on the field, signaling, while the ref stares right at him and confirms with a point. I live in the Detroit area. It's a big deal that the Lions are winning, and this play has been talked about as you would expect. Blaming the refs and claiming the games are fixed. The Lions tried to deceive and ended up deceiving themselves. That's often how that works in life. And you can tell that 70 knew the ref thought he reported, and then it was announced on the speaker. Any unbiased person would have to think that had the right number been announced, the Cowboys would have responded accordingly.
Skipper said he held his left fist up and make a duece sign in front of his chest. Thats there signal for 12 jumbo personal so a receiver knows to come off. The first time he did this, he signaled the personal group the the players, then went and physically as well as verbally reported. On the play in question he did not physically or verbally report.
As I said in another post, this is the type of play that could get them fired up and laser focused going into the playoffs (I believe it was Detroit's responsibility to make sure the correct # was called). It could be the type of thing that launches them to the Super Bowl.
Well the ref pointed directly at him and nodded so he should have communicated that to his teamates but he didnt. Lions and the fans threw crying tantrum that cost that referee the chance in the postseason, when the Lions are the ones that fkkd up lol @@dan4579
I'm a Lions fan. This is a GREAT breakdown. It's not really Deckers fault, he did what he was supposed to. BUT Skipper literally did the motion and the ref was clearly watching him do it. The Lions were trying to be extra deceptive and it fucked them.
Additionally, 68 uses an eligible signal with his right hand in a concealed manner (so the defense won’t see) to make it not obvious. The rest of his body language is just walking. He executed this too well.
If the Lions really did tell them about the play before the game, it is a lot harder to be on their side. Especially if the NFL downgraded them for it.
Because the refs were incompetent idiots in this scenario. Head ref totally unnecessarily sped up the process without understanding what was happening.
@matthewblough5088 doesn't matter because the refs still have to follow the rules. The Lions did not report correctly and tried to deceive the defense. So #70 should not have reported eligible if the Lions wanted #68 to be the eligible receiver. Play stupid games win stupid prizes.
It’s doesn’t matter if the Lions told the refs ahead of time. 70 clearly reported, and 68 didn’t catch his eye or confirm he was seen/heard. Sucks but the rules were followed.
One of the great things i love about Jomboy video breakdown(s), is if he doesn't know about a particular process of whatever sport, he doesn't bullshit about it; he just tells you. You don't find that type of honesty in most media sources. Good work Jomboy!
In a huge contrast to that fact, my son showed me a video made by some guy yelling and actually embarrassing himself about this. He didn't show 68 not actually even looking like he wss reporting or mention that 70 had, and shrieked that the call was wrong. I saw another video where 68 left the huddle but it immediately cut off instead of showing what he actually did (nothing). Good call, weak whining on some other videos. I didn't and don't care who won that game, but I looked up the rule and saw that there was no reason to doubt the call.
I've been hoping for Jomboy to do a breakdown of this. By far best of ALL I've watched, including major networks. I'm even more convinced the refs F'ed it up.
True, he looked at it logically without some weird conspiracy angle "NFL is rigged" narrative. So many fans and commentators want there to be controversy because "refs bad, NFL hates my team, they want *insert big market team.*"
I’ve said this a few other times: 1. The responsibility is the players to report to the ref who then reports it to the defense. 2. It is the coaches responsibility to know that this happens as planned. 3. Poor sportsmanship was displayed when the deception (which had MANY levels) fell apart and trickery didn’t favor them. 4. It appeared to many that they felt guilty of cheating and couldn’t deal with it properly. 5. Most of all…they cited technicalities blaming the refs for failing. Fine, but if you live by the sword, you die by the sword. The Dallas drive that was interrupted by an incorrect tripping call would have otherwise increased the Dallas lead to a two score scenario where a 2pt conversion would be meaningless. The lions outed themselves by running multiple trick plays which instills self doubt in a team. Going for 2 when 1 ties the game tells the a story too….no confidence in winning in OT. The whining didn’t help bruise now they feel like “THAT’S the reason” externally but internally THEY KNOW. The lions now have to beat the other team, the refs, their own coach, and members of their own team.
No matter what sport he is covering, Jomboy is always taking the emotion out of these kinds of analysis and just spits facts. So nice to see and hear. The split screen with the first quarter and the last quarter was spot on.
Agree. I haven't seen coverage of how 70 is acknowledged by the ref. It may have been covered, but the Cowboys reacted to what the ref told them, i.e. covered 70 and not 68. Who knows if 68 would have been open if the ref said "68"?
This wasn't the best breakdown? I'm confused the controversial call was the fake flag called against Dallas when it was clearly against Detroit. Dallas would have ended the game then and there..This video highlighted another play that was irrelevant 🤷♂️ and shiuld have never happened.
Let’s be honest the downgrade is mostly to avoid controversy. The nfl doesn’t want the ref to be the discussion of a playoff game even if it was right or was wrong.
It could go both ways. The NFL wants to make it clear to teams/players that they need to communicate eligibility more clearly and make sure they are noticed. They also could have observed that the ref crew wasn't paying as much attention as they should have, especially given whatever what communicated to them before the game. Either one going better could have solved the problem, so it's somewhat the responsibility of both sides.
Doesn't make much sense though considering now the discussion is about the league not having a clue whats going on instead of an individual ref not having a clue what's going on.
That and the bad calls earlier in the game probably add to the totality of the circumstances leading to Allen and crew being unavailable for the playoff games.
Yeah I agree. I think in most situations humans have a habit of looking for a scapegoat - we need to blame someone, and that person is 100% of the problem. In actuality it's greyer than that, and several people had a % influence in this outcome. To some degree when you write a deceptive play you are gambling on your success with both confusing the other team and yet being understood by the referees. 70 did a bad job of tricking the Cowboys (literally no Cowboy was looking at him as he rubbed his belly) whilst misleading the ref. 68 was too indirect. The player next to 68 should not have blocked the ref's view of 68. The ref should have paused and clarified. Ultimately I have no idea how to assign % blame to each (or even if it makes sense to do so). But the options are obviously not 100% ref fault versus 100% 68's fault versus 100% 70's fault.
The announcement wasn’t that Allen was pulled from the playoffs because of that play. It was that Some Members of that Crew were not going to the playoffs, for reasons Unstated. There were Actual referee failures, like seeing a cheating attempt as an actual trip and then punishing the Other team, and those are probably why the unspecified referees were downgraded.
I find it funny that people talk about how refs are all compromised by the league being in bed with draft kings, but jomboy isnt compromised despite draft kings being his main sponsor. I know it’s a different situation, it’s just funny to me
Here is what bothers me the most: The referee has to make an announcement to the stadium about the eligible receiver. Once referee Allen makes the announcement to the stadium that # 70 Skipper was an eligible receiver, why didn't anyone (Lions coach, the quarterback) from the Lions go to the referee and tell him that he called out the wrong number. You know the Lions had to hear the announcement. I know if I was the coach of the Lions, I would go up to the nearest official say, "the referee said the wrong number." Makes me wonder. Also, if the Lions were using two decoy players, the Cowboys would know who the real eligible receiver was because by rule they have to be notified. The Lions were 95% the blame, because the player is responsible for making sure the correct player is reported.
Because Allen did not make an announcement on the PA on that play -- and the NFL rules do not require that any announcement be made. Dallas knows which players are eligible based on the formation -- no defense relies on what they thought they heard the ref tell them. Most dbacks don't even bother listening to the ref because it makes no difference to their coverage.
@@mikemontana3443that’s completely false. There’s a Spanish broadcast of the game that has the PA announce 70. Also, formation doesn’t dictate who to cover on the line. That has to be communicated to the D, per the rule Jimbo read.
@@CodyWilson11 WRONG. The "Spanish broadcast" dubbed in a PA announcement from earlier in the game --it has been matched EXACTLY. The formation absolutely dictates who is eligible. The illegal formation penalty is based on the formation. Defenses cover based on the formation.
I'd love to see more NFL breakdowns too, but the problem is that the NFL can request YT to take videos down as a copyright strike. This happened before with an NFL highlight channel, which forced the channel owner to shut down (?). It sucks.
Wow, this breakdown actually sheds a whole new light on the situation. Every other breakdown I've seen has completely omitted how 70 ran onto the field, and I haven't seen a SINGLE person mention the ref pointing directly at number 70 and saying "I understand, you're eligible". Lions fans in absolute shambles.
Its crazy that one guy can look at it and figure out it was just a confusing situation while both ESPN and FOX have hours of people treating this like the biggest robbery in sports history.
Because a guy within bad breath distance with the ref reporting as eligible and going to line up at the end of the line is less direct in his attempt to report than the guy sprinting in and is 10 years away from the ref and later lines up at an ineligible position to touch the ball is reporting. Yeah, sure, pal. Did Roger sign your check personally?
I'm a Lions fan, but Jomboy has by far the best breakdown of the whole situation. He's the only one I've seen that has even included the NFL's official rule on the matter. Everything thing was hurried, so I can see how confusion and miscommunication could play a factor. Sucks, but there's always that possibly when you want to try a trick play.
Thanks for doing this. Before watching this, I really thought the ref botched this, but you showed exactly why he made the call he did. I think it comes down to the Lions getting too cute with deception and the official was the one they tricked in the end.
They are clearly trying to bend the rule in a deceptive way in order to trick the defense to not know who the elligible reciever is. Except the rule was created exactly for that purpose, whoever wrote this play up is the idiot, not the refs.
@@J_LaPwatch the video again. It’s up to the players to make sure they are clearly communicating to the ref if they’re reporting and #68 did not. The ref was acknowledging #70 running onto the field not #68 regardless if #68 was closer to the ref at that time. I understand trying to be tricky to fool the defense but you also have to execute the trick properly.
I’m going to explain the first “motion” #70 Skipper did on both plays. As he is running onto the field he is telling the offense the personnel grouping. He is not signaling that he is eligible. Even on the first play, I didn’t see him swipe his jersey because he ran around players to get the refs attention. Decker should have been more obvious. But to say the Lions got too cute with deception when the whole game of football is about deception is wild in my opinion.
The thing about sending multiple players to “confuse the defense” is that the refs report to the defense who the eligible players are. There’s no confusing the defense. They get told what the refs are told. You could only possible confuse the refs, which is what seems to have happened.
Not really, lots of teams like to have players report eligible throughout the game for no reason just to distract the defense and to make them stop paying attention to it. If the only times a player reported eligible was when they were doing a trick play of course it would never work. The Patriots famously used to do it all the time, and the lions did it in this game. It becomes background noise that the defense stop paying attention to.
it confuses Dallas’ staff members who are watching for the guys reporting eligible. Even if it’s just an extra 15 second delay from signal to announcement that is long enough to make a difference in the play
The play wasn't the deception the substitution was the whole trick.Thats the point jomboy is trying to get across,the lions where trying shady crap and that's why it backfired.If they would have done things the right way the cowboys would have known 68 was a receiver.
@@_Godpuncher_what? You said someone getting trick by a trick is their own fault. It’s like trying to trick the cops and you get arrested cuz the cops didn’t understand the trick, it’s stupid to think that hahaha
Crazy that with all the immediate react noise about this... that THIS FULL breakdown showed so much more clearly about the miscommunication /mannerisms / communication fails. Jomboy for the win again.
I'd heard about this controversy but hadn't seen what happened. Jomboy has saved me not only the trouble of watching it, but also figuring out whether the ref made the right decision. Turns out they did and the Lions tried to do too much with it. Subscribed. JB, you should have a look at the AFL (Australian Football League) when the season starts in March. If I see anything interesting crop up I'll give you a heads up.
Good breakdown, although you should have also shown the announcement that 70 was eligible. Even if that was a mistake, you can't give them the points, because the defense was looking at 70, not 68, based on the announcement. But you're right to point out that the ref looks at 70, points to him, and nobody corrects him, because it was all intentional to try and deceive.
Right. great to capture the ref point at 70, as he runs on the field raising his hand and rubbing his chest see the ref tell Dallas #70. They can't complain about the call when they know Dallas was mislead by the ref eligible receiver call. The trick didn't work and the ref gets roasted. Note, I'm not a fan of NFL refs by any means.
Allen did not make an eligible announcement over the PA on that play. The defense had no dback on coverage of 70 because he was lined up as an interior lineman and was covered by 2 players - Sewell and Brown. Dallas had Wilson on man coverage on Decker. He collided with Reynolds and was late to the play. Allen pointed to 70 to acknowledge that he was the substitution -- the signal that 70 was giving and the reason that 70 does not say anything to Allen because he is not reporting as eligible -- and then Allen informed Dallas of the substitution and gave Dallas time to substitute.
@@mikemontana3443 I don't know man, 70 makes the eligible signal and then gets pointed at with a nod. This should have clued the Lions in that something might not be going to plan here I think.
@@jonashelmke2564 The ref had already nodded to 68 when he yelled "reporting". The ref's nod to 70 was to acknowledge that he was acknowledging that he was substituting in. 70 has to continue to approach the ref until he gets that acknowledgement from the ref. Players cannot "sneak" into the game as substitutions. 70 cannot report as eligible by just running onto the field and making a gesture with his hand. 70 has to say something to the ref about reporting -- and did not. Detroit cannot read the ref's mind to know whether he is correctly identifying 70 as a substitution or misidentifying 70 as eligible. BUT what Detroit does know is that IMMEDIATELY after recognizing 70 as he substituted in, the ref told Dallas that they could substitute. That clued Detroit in that everything was going to plan.
Two NFL offensive linemen give a great breakdown of the reporting process on the O-Line Committee podcast. Multiple professional perspectives on this play, one blames the player(s), one blames the ref.
@@Tyrantofthewindright but he motioned that he was, trying to trick the cowboys defense and make them believe he was eligible, the issue is he tricked the referees as well.
Goff gets the call to run the Play. He tells #68 to go report. (That is ALL that Goff knows, he has no idea what actually takes place after that) #68/#58 start to leave the huddle. While on the edge of the huddle, still in it, you can see #68 raise his right arm *one* time. *one* - Then it goes back down to his side. #68 continues to walk towards the Ref. With his arms remaining at his side the entire approach. #58/#68 get to the Ref and #68's arms remain at his sides. (no words have been spoken no signs have been giving yet) Meanwhile #70 is running onto the field. New Reverse Angle Video shows what #70 was doing his *entire* run-on He comes on the field with his Left Arm raised in the Air and his right arm across his chest, moving up and down. #70's interview: *Left Arm* - raised in the air *Right Arm* - is giving the #2 sign across my chest. Signal for "12 Jumbo". (His Right Arm is moving up and down because he is running) Now watch the video and see what that looks like. Now Imagine you are the Ref, your attention is drawn to #70 running on. (You see the Ref look directly at #70 and point at #70) What does #70's motions resemble? What Signal does it look like? *What does the Ref see?* Left arm raised, while the other arm is going up and down in front of his chest? Does that set of movements sound familiar? *Yes* Accidental or not, #70 gave a signal in the Ref's Direction. While running towards the Ref, that mimic's an Eligible Signal. Do I think that #70 was giving signals to his teammates? Yes As a former RT in High School and College, we had Internal Team Signals as well. #70 even references that they use "Personnel Signals". *Skipper's Quote:* _"Everyone who’s played at this level, I’m sure all you guys know that you signal in personnel."_ But if your Team Signals closely resemble an NFL Reporting Signal, then someone on the Lions Staff *HAS* to recognize this potentially dangerous misapprehension. 100% As #70 is running on, giving his Signal, Ref looks and Points. #70 then stops giving the Signal and continues to run towards the Ref. Upon seeing the Signal from #70 and #58/#68 at this point have not Physically/Verbally said anything yet to the Ref. The Ref starts to turn away (heading towards Dallas) At this moment Decker raises his Right Arm to his waist *once* . But the Ref had already started to turn away from #58/#68 and #58 is now in-between #68 and the Ref. As the Ref takes a step away, you can see #68 Decker's head lean towards the Ref. This is when it appears that #68 is finally trying to Declare. Some people say #68 was yelling/talking the entire time. But, #68 himself, said that he said only one word: "Report". Re-watch #68's path from Huddle to Ref. When did he say this word? When? Decker was trying to wait until the last moment to declare. (it's part of the design). And #70 is still running towards the Ref to keep the ruse going. As the Ref turns away then #68 Raises his Arm, I think that is when #68 says the word "Report". and watch where #70 is at when that occurs. Much closer to #68. Still advancing towards the Ref (not the Huddle). As the Ref is turning away further, and #68 says the word "Report" The Ref had #70's Signal. #58/#68 hadn't giving any Physical/Verbal Signs yet. The Refs head was *turning away* and he hears the word "Report" (from someone). The Ref looks in the Direction of #68 and #70, make note of where #70 is at that time. #70 is now almost behind #68. The Ref nods. and continues towards Dallas. Once again, put yourself in the Ref's shoes and think about what you have just witnessed. Now imagine the Lions practice for this play. You can practice and practice, but there are always variables that you can't account for. Obviously they had someone play the part of the Ref. But ask yourself, did the Ref move around? Stand still? What? My guess is that the Ref stood in one place the entire time. I imagine they ran this play over and over. (Imagine Their Practice) In #68's head, he had plenty of time. At practice he waits until 70 is really close, then he tells the Ref. Then the Ref might walk away. Or maybe the pretend-Ref just stands there and the players go to the huddle. I wold love to see the Practice Tapes. I don't think #68 expected the Ref to suddenly start running away. It caught #68 off-guard. So he quickly tried to Declare. With one swipe and says the word "Report". I would wager that these live-events were not like practice. I think the Lions designed a Great Play! But the execution and other circumstances killed it.
Did he think 58 and 68 were coming over for tea and cookies? I contend an official with any integrity would have acknowledged their failure to pay attention to players clearly trying to report and kept the flag in their pocket. This honestly makes it look like he ignored those guys for some reason and decided to make it somebody else’s problem when his fvckup came to light.
Agreed. Fans often do not even attempt to put themselves in the ref’s shoes or think about their field-of-view, the timing of everything, or all the other things they have to remember & focus on.
@@sithticklefingers7255 The Ref looks and watches #58/#68 approach. I've never denied that. It's obvious. But their intentions are not the pure responsibility of the Ref. Re-Read what I wrote. The Ref wasn't ignoring them. He watched them walk from the huddle, across the field....and do what? Nothing. They weren't giving signals, they weren't saying anything. They get to the Ref and stand there....Arms at their side. Mouths not saying anything. They *had* the Ref's attention their *entire* walk. The Ref is not going to stand there and try to guess why they approached. He gives them ample time to say/do something. Then his attention focuses on #70 running onto the field, giving hand signals that mimic the Eligible Signal.
@@marvinmange4805 I appreciate the lengthy analysis. In this situation, the Lions have got to make sure that the Ref has correctly interpreted their signals and communication. From what we see in the videos, it looks like they just made the assumption that it was clear enough. They also failed to make the correction once the Ref announced #70 as the eligible receiver. Someone should have been able to notice that the Ref had gotten it wrong before the play started.
Outstanding job! Been watching your channel a long time, but this is probably the most impressive video I've seen from you. Really glad you didn't get it wrong like most NFL fans and even NFL analysts (see Rex Ryan). By "see Rex Ryan," I don't mean watch him... or even look at him. I wouldn't recommend either... I just meant as a reference to my point about NFL analysts having their heads lodged in their colon!
Great breakdown presenting ideas I haven’t heard before. I thought the Lions got screwed and maybe they did but now I have enough doubt to no longer take a side in this.
Jomboy is the only "media" that points out what everone that isn't a butthurt Lions fan sees clear as day. That 70 does signal the ref, the ref is looking right at him and points at him.
Jeez, Jimmy, you are a friggin wizard. I just learned more about football in six minutes than the previous 46 years of cumulative football knowledge. Your frank, matter-of-fact breakdowns, with their remarkable editing, keen interpretation, and open-ended explanations of applicable rules make for such digestible and entertaining videos, REGARDLESS OF THE SPORT. That's what I think, at least. And don't even get me started on Things You Missed! Endlessly fascinating
Good breakdown, but the ref clearly looks at 68 after looking at 70 at 4:16. And in that moment 68 would be saying “I am reporting”to the ref while 70 does not say a word
Good job on the breakdown. There is another clip out there where the Ref says over the PA that #70 is now reporting as eligible. When the Lions' coach or players heard this, they should have gotten the attention of the Ref, called time out, threw the red hanki, or what ever was needed to get the proper eligible number announced to the defence. Yes their trick play would have been busted though.
They were out of TOs, but I suspect if Campbell had gone sprinting out barking that they screwed up the eligibility they would have ironed it out. He's admitted that he heard the announcement but felt he didn't have time to do anything...but I think he's being dishonest. Naturally, if he had to call the report to attention to have it fixed, it would have highlighted 68 all the more and ruined the plan for the play. That he clammed up strongly suggests to me that he hoped the play would work (all the more likely since the defense wouldn't be covering 68) and the report would be forgotten by the refs...while also keeping things open to complain if they ended up penalized, as things ended up happening. I've lost a good chunk of respect for Campbell because of this, which makes me sad (because I like him and the job he's done).
Only missed the part where you can clearly hear the referee announcing 70 as elegible on the broadcast, before the snap even happens (so it's not like they called it only because the try was good). Love the objective breakdown, great job
@@ChadillacSimpson my point was that that is the info the defense is playing on, and why 68 was wide open. Maybe this will make teams like the Lions have someone dedicated to making sure their deceptive plays are announced as expected when theyre trying to be deceptive
@@_Godpuncher_Sort it out with the refs to make sure they know the correct player reporting as eligible or audible if time is low. Running it anyways and hoping the penalty isn't called is just dumb.
@@_Godpuncher_ they can absolutely get the side judge's attention and tell him they've announced the wrong person, im sure an officials timeout and a correction would've happen then
Yeah, sometimes the huge dudes get in the normal sized ref's way. Its hard to imagine that perspective and how little the ref's are actually able to see with everyone on the field being so massive.
What I really don't understand is the Lions were clearly trying to create deception by sending 3 guys at the ref... but if I'm not mistaken, the ref then goes and tells the defense who has reported as eligible. So why create this scenario in the first place?
They were hoping the Cowboys weren’t paying attention the announcement, which is entirely plausible since apparently the Lions didn’t hear the announcement
Because the ref tells the defense 5-10 seconds later. By then, they have less (or no) time to sub players to match the situation and less time to communicate coverage assignments with each other.
Seems like the plan was to trick the Cowboys into thinking 70 was eligible while 68 was not. But it all backfired when the Cowboys were the only ones on the field who WEREN'T fooled.
I've been to a handful of NFL games and I'm pretty sure that it was announced over the p.a. every time a player reported as eligible. I distinctly remember a game in Foxboro where it actually became annoying because the same guy reported on nearly every play. If that's the standard, it should be on tape somewhere who the referee actually reported. Everyone in the stadium including the Lions coaching staff should have been alerted as to which player was eligible....no?
A point missed was that the announcer announced to the whole stadium and the ref to the cowboys defense that 70 is eligible. Lions had time to correct it. They still decided to throw to him anyways. Another point is and never gets talked about is he’s open because they were told 70 is the eligible receiver, not 68. Why would they guard a player that’s not eligible lol of course he’s going to be wide open
Here's the thing is 70 was going to receive. Why the hell 68 go up there and tell him that he was receiving. 70 was just let her know he was eligible to get on the field cuz anything from 65 to 74 has a report to let him know that they're eligible to play. 68 and 58 went up there to let the rough know that 68 was able to receive
To cause confusion. If #68 was the only one reporting, why then #58 go to the ref and #70 move towards him. Again, to cause confusion. #70 did not need to raise his hand to substitute.
There a such thing as an officials timeout to correct stuff. All they had to do was say something. It happens all the time when there is confusion. Still, Lions had 3 opportunities and didn't get it done. You might say "oh they got it the first time" and that's where my second point comes into play, he is ONLY that wide open because the defense isn't guarding a player that isn't reported as eligible @@tinguspingus7387
Thank you for covering this controversial ay with the facts, and only the facts, professionally without bias. We need more people to be like this. Thank you.
I think number 70. The second time is coming in with his arm up looking at to sub out the wide receiver. You can clearly see him calling the wide receiver and the receiver runs off the field.
Arm up is to indicate substitution and that he is not in the huddle at the same time the person he is replacing. He also had his hand on his chest. If he was doing a swipping motion, I can not tell from the angles I have seen.
He didn't report. The NFL rules are you have to go up to the referee and tell them you are reporting...which he did not do. The ref fucked up regardless of whether or not you see the play as ultimately the lions fault for not being clearer. What #70 points to or what hand signs he makes are irrelevant, particularly when someone is reporting as eligible in the actual correct method via the rules. You have to go up to the ref and say it.
Skipper's hands and signalling on the way in is one that Jomboy got wrong. Skipper never moves his hand up and down and never places a second hand on his chest. The reporting eligible hand signal is two hands moving up and down repeatedly across the numbers. Skipper is holding a flexed arm to the side and placing two fingers on his chest to tell the his team the "power 12" package has been called in. This tells the players in that package group to stay and everyone else should be leaving. So Skipper is not signalling that he's eligible at all and never motions in a manner even remotely similar. That said, a hand motion isn't required to report. To report a player must only approach the referee prior to the snap and declare that they are reporting. There is no video of Skipper doing that. What Skipper does do is run in the same way that he normally does for this formation. Normally he will go directly to the ref after setting the player package and declare himself eligible because they normally put him in the TE position on Power 12. This time he does not go to the ref. He stops at Decker (#68) and talks to him instead. The ref however, presumes he's going to check in as eligible and points to him while he's still jogging. That is when the mistakes begin. After the game Dan Campbell said the explanation the he got was "two players couldn't report eligible". This is why the ref ignored #68's report. It came after he acknowledged #70. But that is actually incorrect. Two or more players can report eligible on any given play. So the ref accepted a report before it happened and then ignored a report because he had a wrong interpretation of the rules in his mind. The deception the Lions engaged in was having Skipper run on the field the same way he normally does toward the referee, but its on the referee to ensure all of the requirements are met for a player to report every time and he did not do that.
jomboy literally covers this situation better than the referees, and the entire media. i had no clue 70 was reporting in all game as eligible, and so now i understand why the refs got confused at the end.. as a cowboys fan im glad the cowboys won, but it seems like the NFL didn’t make an attempt to defend the referees, or to even explain what happened to the same extent as jomboy
Great breakdown. But I don’t believe Allen and co are being downgraded for this one play specifically. There was a bad tripping call on the previous cowboy drive that likely prevented the cowboys from running out the clock and nullifying this debacle in the first place. Overall not a well called game. Multiple missed holding calls. I’ll be interested to see wha happens if they meet again in the playoffs.
Wow bro! Best breakdown I’ve seen and completely changes the entire narrative of the entire situation. I realize why the nfl and sports media didn’t do this good of a job cause then they wouldn’t have had anything to talk about.
OK. You got my subscription. To my knowledge, only you and one other guy on youtube got this right. Good job. Also, don't forget to consider, the noise level in the stadium at this moment was very high, so the refs probably couldn't hear very well. At any rate, he announced that 70 was eligible on the PA so all could hear. Anybody who actually knew what happened (ie: The Lions coach and #70) and who threw the ref under the bus is a coward.
The only issue is Jomboy is incorrect in his interpretation. 70 was indicating the play call by flexing and placing his hand in the shape of a gun on his chest, signs the Lions regularly use pre snap. The ref misinterpreted this as 70 reporting and made the wrong call. I'm not a fan of either team but the wrong call was made and the league needs to improve its officiating.
@@borafett3005yup! And this was the third or fourth end of game controversial call by this Brad Allen crew this season! They deserve to be downgraded from the playoffs! But the NFL needs full time refs and an extra official in the booth to quickly correct calls like the XFL had (most replay reviews are answered to the audience before the broadcast cuts to commercial)
@@borafett3005 The call was correct. WHY was #70 running on the field toward the official, instead of to the huddle? Why were TWO linemen walking to the official instead of the actual player that was reporting? WHY did the Lions NOT correct the official AFTER it was announced over the PA that #70 reported? They all heard it, had a chance to correct it and did not. The ref made the correct call. ua-cam.com/video/gQAlQk4brCI/v-deo.htmlsi=dKGrjSECc_OLsXJY
I heard so much that it was an absolute blown call by the refs for this. Even knowing that they did bring 70 in as a diversion tactic to confuse the Cowboys defense. But this is the first that I seen that when he ran in, he also signaled as eligible. And with them using that player thought the season as their eligible lineman, I can absolutely see why the ref thought he was the one reporting. I still think once the ref announced that 70 reported eligible, you would think that SOMEONE (coach/qb) would have been like, wait a moment, that isn't what we were doing, and have some way to correct the situation.
If they were to correct the official it would give away the trick in their trick play. They were obviously just hoping that nobody would notice and the 2 point conversion would stand. Some might call that cheating.
"So personnel, you signal in," Skipper told reporters on Wednesday.. "I wasn't like this (as he wipes his numbers). I was not doing that - I was doing this (holding one arm up and another by his stomach, with two fingers out), signaling 12 jumbo. Everyone who's played at this level, I'm sure all you guys know that you signal in personnel."
yeah there are a lot of people commenting that have not looked into this issue at all beyond maybe a tweet and then this jomboy breakdown. the refs fucked it up. doesnt matter what excuse they make, brad allen literally ignored a player trying to talk to him and used his bias (from a previous play where skipper reported) to make an assumption and he was just flat out wrong. just because the PA announcer says 70 doesnt mean anything. it just means he was also wrong. skipper never approached the ref.
After watching your video I now have a completely different perspective of what happened. Your views and the accompanying explanation show me that #70 had reported and received an acknowledgement from the referee.
@@jc43261jc If You've spent much time in a football field with crowd noise and players yelling, you'd see that the eye contact and pointing directly at the player should have sufficed.
Wow... The best footage I've seen on this so far! Nobody else out on UA-cam has the zoomed in footage of both Linemen rubbing and signaling at the same time, clearly showing Brad Allen looking directly at number 70. Deception bit the Lions in the butt... Thanks for showing us this footage. I still wonder why you can't hear the "Number 70 has reported as eligible" on the Aikman / Buck broadcast, yet you can hear it on the Spanish broadcast clearly.
68 signaled "eligible receiver" "Skipper did use hand signals that might have been misinterpreted by Allen as reporting eligibility, but Skipper says those were to identify personnel groupings for the offense. One arm was raised in the air with a flexed bicep, Detroit’s signal for a jumbo package, while the other hand was shaped like a gun near his chest, the signal for 12 personnel, a package that includes one running back, two tight ends and two receivers on the field."
The Lions just got too tricky by half and ended up tricking the refs instead of the Cowboys. The Ref even anounced #70 over the stadium PA system. If 70 wasn't correct they should have said something right then.
That's a really dumbass response. The refs fucked up, how come the Lions didn't take a delay-of-game penalty? Well... because they did everything right.
Rex Ryan explained it the best. As a coach BEFORE the game even starts, they tell the officials what "trick" plays they might run and explain to them all of the unique or uncommon alignments they will use. They do this so that the officials know what's going on, so that they aren't confused when it happens. You see, they're trying to confuse Dallas, not the zebras. He explains it even more and how the whole process is supposed to work. That's why the crew was downgraded. They knew beforehand and still fucked up. Either way you feel about the decision, listen to Rex and his perspective as a former coach. It was really interesting to hear his breakdown and explanation.
Here's the link to Rex's explanation : ua-cam.com/video/xqJLVodSjac/v-deo.htmlsi=pbXRKDqWGY7fU0Q- Also, it turns out Allen - the ref - missed the standard procedure meeting with the coaches. That's likely why they were downgraded and not the botched call! A total farce.
This totally is the best breakdown I've seen of this. As a Cowboys fan, it does make the win a little more legit to me now. As I watched the replay, it looked like Detroit was trying to be secretive about who the eligible receiver was. I thought it was said on tv that even though when players report to the ref about that, they have to tell the defense about it. Whatever the case, I thought it was something that even the rules go-to guy was up in the air about the call. But then he did defer to the rules about it being the player's responsibility to report. Awesome breakdown though!
I've been waiting all week for this video. When you read the rules, and you see what the Lions did...I think this 100% absolves the refs of any wrongdoing.
The one thing that I have heard that puts it back on the offense, is that the ref clearly announced 70, and not 68 on the PA system. Since it is the players responsibility to be recognized, the lack of 68 paying attention to the announcement puts it back on him.
There's no point trying to decieve the defense. The ref tells the defense who's reporting as eligible. Also, if Dallas was told 68 was eligible instead of 70, they would have covered him. The outcome of the play may have been different.
@@SeraphsWitness Problem that very few people have mentioned: the NFL very clearly does not want teams to engage in pre-snap procedural deception. Hence pausing things if there is a late substitution by the offense and hence the penalty for 12 men in the huddle (which gets applied even if the 12th guy simply approaches the huddle). The Lions knew darn well that this sort of thing isn't kosher, but because it isn't a penalty (likely because the NFL figured there's little point to trying this sort of thing) they tried it anyway. That's on them.
@@SeraphsWitness You'd be correct, *if* this involved NFL enforcement, e.g. if the ref threw a flag because of some deceptive reporting or if it ruled #70 eligible for that reason. None of that happened. My point is that the NFL has made it clear that it wants teams to be totally above board with pre-snap procedures, and *thus does not promise them any protections if they act below board*. The Lions were not restricted from trying what they tried, but then they were rolling the dice that the refs would be both ready and willing to get everything exactly right. Certainly the goal is for the refs to sort through any reporting confusion as the offensive team desires, but if that doesn't happen as a result of not-kosher reporting actions...that's the fault of the team, not the refs. The Lions tried gamesmanship in an area they know the league doesn't want, and hoped that the lack of rules against it would make it go off without a hitch. That's the downside of trying something like this - it can go wrong. It went wrong, and just as importantly it didn't lock them up from still winning anyway. That failure is also on them.
I just dont understand why they would attempt so hard to mask his eligibility when by rule like it shows at the end if this video, the ref immediately goes to the other team and tells them who reported as eligible and then ANNOUNCES TO THE ENTIRE STADIUM the same information. I know im not on the field so maybe theres just something i dont know, but it seems like it is a lot of effort to keep something hidden that wont remain a secret anyways
Why not talk about how we got here with a lions defensive lineman trying to trip the Dallas running back but the Cowboys got flagged for it at the 2min warning. It would have been first and 10 at the 14 vs 2nd and 25 at the 44. 3 runs and a field goal would have burned the lions last 2 time outs and left them with under 30 seconds after kickoff. That’s saying the cowboys don’t score or get a first down in that 3 plays.
I think this falls pretty heavily on #68 for not making it obvious to the ref so that it wouldn’t have been a problem… and then on the lions as a whole for not kicking the extra point after the penalty. That choice was 100% emotional rather that situational.
It does per the rules, but how much more clear can you be? Do you have to go tug the ref’s sleeve if he doesn’t acknowledge your signal? The official’s attention should be on the players approaching him, not the one guy on the other side of the field. That was piss poor by any measure.
@@sithticklefingers7255 You mean the one guy on the other side of the field thats running towards the ref waving his hand in the air while wiping his chest? Thats the guy the ref shouldn't be paying attention to? The same guy thats been doing that all day when he's trying to report?
If someone had tried to convince me there's an NFL rule that says 'Before players of a particular shirt number-range are allowed to catch the ball they must rub their belly and be seen waving at the ref', id tell them that's ridiculous. No sport would ever have a rule so unintuitive.
You should watch the Dolphins, Christian Wilkins’ antics on PAT’s/FG’s. He screams at the refs while doing that chest motion. He makes damn sure they know he’s eligible.
Dan Skipper is running on the field and signaling the formation to the huddle. In the first quarter he signaled the formation and then continued running to the ref to also report. The ref got confused because he saw Skipper flashing the formation and it is done in a similar spot on the body to reporting.... but to report it has to be done directly in front of the ref.... not while running on the field. That's the little minor difference in the 1st quarter reporting and the 2pt try.
This right here. The official needs to hear it from the player. That’s why 70 was upset because he literally never said a word to the official. No clue if 68 ever spoke up. Both sides need to communicate more clearly or this sort of nonsense will keep happening.
There's also a verbal component required, which Skipper very passionately said he did not give. No matter how you look at it, it was incorrect for the refs to declare Skipper (70). People might argue that Decker (68) didn't properly declare, but it is undeniable that Skipper definitely did not.
Once again, Jimmy has the best breakdown of a complicated play. Way more thorough than any other explanation I've seen for this one
First video I have seen that managed to explain how the refs got confused. Watched probably 10 different videos on this too
The explanations don't add up -- and this video by Jomboy (who is great) misses a couple things. First, listing yourself as eligible is in no way meant to be deceptive -- in fact, sometimes the PA announcers at stadiums will call out when someone has listed as eligible. And for good reason -- when you list as eligible you are now allowed and obligated to line-up in certain positions in the formation.
THIS is why I don't buy the refs explanation. IF they didn't know that 68 had reported as eligible (which they claim), then they should have thrown a flag for "illegal formation" at the beginning of the play because the Lions would have had 68 as the last man on the line of scrimmage, and you must have an eligible receiver as the last man on the line on both ends. They didn't throw that flag, BUT they did throw a flag AFTER the play was over and the Lions had taken the lead. I call bullshit.
@jeffreybrewer8649 They threw a flag for both illegal touching and illegal formation. The refs talked to each other and confirmed where the lions were lined up and then threw two flags. We can’t act like this hasn’t happened before. Something happens and the refs talk it over and then drop/pickup the flag.
@@jeffreybrewer8649 The illegal formation penalty should have come at the snap. I have yet to see anything that shows when the flag was thrown and I'm quite surprised I haven't - especially from a Lions fan. I agree with you 100% - if that flag was not thrown at the snap, you've got some serious shenanigans going on.
I also agree with the deception thing being absolutely ridiculous as the ref has to tell the other team who is reporting as eligible. It's just a dumb play to try in the first place. However, if that's not what the lions were trying to do, then I'm hard pressed to come up with a rationale for 3 linemen heading over to the ref.
@@jeffreybrewer8649 I'm a biased Cowboys fan, but there is video with audio of the ref telling the defense that 70 was eligible, and also announced over the PA that 70 was eligible before the play started. He got it wrong, but the reason he got it wrong was because of the way the Lions tried to hide which one was reporting as eligible, and it ended up fooling the ref. They got this wrong, but the Cowboys also had an offensive drive killed when the refs saw Aiden Hutchinson try to trip Tony Pollard and it was incorrectly called on a Cowboy.
I cannot believe that Jomboy provided the best interpretation of this play, sports media should be ashamed they don’t go this in-depth.
Pat mcafee bro. He has former NFL o/d linemen and a former HC talk about the behind the scene stuff of talking with refs before games.
Well sports media doesn’t care about getting it right. They just want views, clicks and reactions.
It was against the cowboys the league wants that controversy. Wait till the second round of the playoffs and they screw the cowboys and everyone will say it’s even now.
They are more concerned about wild trade proposals, drama, and anything that has a good title.
Bro that’s been Jomboys MO the entire channel.
Its crazy to me how much better this breakdown was compared to any other snippet I had seen. Jomboy never fails with the breakdown.
Jomboy is the goat
It really is bizarre. We have countless media types covering football ad nauseam 24-7. Over paid talking heads and gum flapping analysts telling you how it is, and not one of them broke it down like this. Nobody showed 70 running on the field, signaling, while the ref stares right at him and confirms with a point.
I live in the Detroit area. It's a big deal that the Lions are winning, and this play has been talked about as you would expect. Blaming the refs and claiming the games are fixed. The Lions tried to deceive and ended up deceiving themselves. That's often how that works in life.
And you can tell that 70 knew the ref thought he reported, and then it was announced on the speaker. Any unbiased person would have to think that had the right number been announced, the Cowboys would have responded accordingly.
As a lions fan this breakdown hurts to watch but at the same time makes the loss burn a little less
Skipper said he held his left fist up and make a duece sign in front of his chest. Thats there signal for 12 jumbo personal so a receiver knows to come off. The first time he did this, he signaled the personal group the the players, then went and physically as well as verbally reported. On the play in question he did not physically or verbally report.
As I said in another post, this is the type of play that could get them fired up and laser focused going into the playoffs (I believe it was Detroit's responsibility to make sure the correct # was called). It could be the type of thing that launches them to the Super Bowl.
@@Ducky-gg4jv lol, I love the delusion of lions fans.
@@Daniel-ng8fiListen, man. It’s all we’ve got after all these years without a playoff appearance 😭
Well the ref pointed directly at him and nodded so he should have communicated that to his teamates but he didnt. Lions and the fans threw crying tantrum that cost that referee the chance in the postseason, when the Lions are the ones that fkkd up lol @@dan4579
I'm a Lions fan. This is a GREAT breakdown. It's not really Deckers fault, he did what he was supposed to. BUT Skipper literally did the motion and the ref was clearly watching him do it. The Lions were trying to be extra deceptive and it fucked them.
Additionally, 68 uses an eligible signal with his right hand in a concealed manner (so the defense won’t see) to make it not obvious. The rest of his body language is just walking. He executed this too well.
The ref also clearly looks at and acknowledges decker
they told them the play before the game tho
Surely the Lions did not tell the refs about only one possible play. @@aDSdl_l
So it was scripted? Hmmmmm.
why’d it take so long for someone to make a competent breakdown of this scenario without calling the refs idiots for 2 minutes
because it's super easy to call them idiots
If the Lions really did tell them about the play before the game, it is a lot harder to be on their side. Especially if the NFL downgraded them for it.
Because the refs were incompetent idiots in this scenario. Head ref totally unnecessarily sped up the process without understanding what was happening.
@matthewblough5088 doesn't matter because the refs still have to follow the rules. The Lions did not report correctly and tried to deceive the defense. So #70 should not have reported eligible if the Lions wanted #68 to be the eligible receiver. Play stupid games win stupid prizes.
It’s doesn’t matter if the Lions told the refs ahead of time. 70 clearly reported, and 68 didn’t catch his eye or confirm he was seen/heard. Sucks but the rules were followed.
One of the great things i love about Jomboy video breakdown(s), is if he doesn't know about a particular process of whatever sport, he doesn't bullshit about it; he just tells you. You don't find that type of honesty in most media sources. Good work Jomboy!
This!
In a huge contrast to that fact, my son showed me a video made by some guy yelling and actually embarrassing himself about this. He didn't show 68 not actually even looking like he wss reporting or mention that 70 had, and shrieked that the call was wrong. I saw another video where 68 left the huddle but it immediately cut off instead of showing what he actually did (nothing). Good call, weak whining on some other videos. I didn't and don't care who won that game, but I looked up the rule and saw that there was no reason to doubt the call.
I've been hoping for Jomboy to do a breakdown of this. By far best of ALL I've watched, including major networks. I'm even more convinced the refs F'ed it up.
@@gunwrencher1566 eh? Seems like the refs got it correct
@@lry8133 When you were told before the game what is going to happen and you don't get it right.
As usual you’ve been able to visually and competently breakdown a situation that a million talking heads and a trillion tweets couldn’t. Thank you.
True, he looked at it logically without some weird conspiracy angle "NFL is rigged" narrative. So many fans and commentators want there to be controversy because "refs bad, NFL hates my team, they want *insert big market team.*"
If only tweets had 7 mins
@@juliananthony1226 tweets cant, but analysts on cable television should be able to see that and go look, but controversy sells better
I’ve said this a few other times:
1. The responsibility is the players to report to the ref who then reports it to the defense.
2. It is the coaches responsibility to know that this happens as planned.
3. Poor sportsmanship was displayed when the deception (which had MANY levels) fell apart and trickery didn’t favor them.
4. It appeared to many that they felt guilty of cheating and couldn’t deal with it properly.
5. Most of all…they cited technicalities blaming the refs for failing. Fine, but if you live by the sword, you die by the sword. The Dallas drive that was interrupted by an incorrect tripping call would have otherwise increased the Dallas lead to a two score scenario where a 2pt conversion would be meaningless.
The lions outed themselves by running multiple trick plays which instills self doubt in a team. Going for 2 when 1 ties the game tells the a story too….no confidence in winning in OT. The whining didn’t help bruise now they feel like “THAT’S the reason” externally but internally THEY KNOW. The lions now have to beat the other team, the refs, their own coach, and members of their own team.
I am still not sure why anyone pays attention to Twitter.
That was a great breakdown! Never saw the ref pointing to number 70 and calling him eligible.
No matter what sport he is covering, Jomboy is always taking the emotion out of these kinds of analysis and just spits facts. So nice to see and hear. The split screen with the first quarter and the last quarter was spot on.
Legit by far the best breakdown of this I've seen. Good job
Agree. I haven't seen coverage of how 70 is acknowledged by the ref. It may have been covered, but the Cowboys reacted to what the ref told them, i.e. covered 70 and not 68. Who knows if 68 would have been open if the ref said "68"?
This wasn't the best breakdown? I'm confused the controversial call was the fake flag called against Dallas when it was clearly against Detroit. Dallas would have ended the game then and there..This video highlighted another play that was irrelevant 🤷♂️ and shiuld have never happened.
Let’s be honest the downgrade is mostly to avoid controversy. The nfl doesn’t want the ref to be the discussion of a playoff game even if it was right or was wrong.
It could go both ways. The NFL wants to make it clear to teams/players that they need to communicate eligibility more clearly and make sure they are noticed. They also could have observed that the ref crew wasn't paying as much attention as they should have, especially given whatever what communicated to them before the game. Either one going better could have solved the problem, so it's somewhat the responsibility of both sides.
Doesn't make much sense though considering now the discussion is about the league not having a clue whats going on instead of an individual ref not having a clue what's going on.
That and the bad calls earlier in the game probably add to the totality of the circumstances leading to Allen and crew being unavailable for the playoff games.
Yeah I agree. I think in most situations humans have a habit of looking for a scapegoat - we need to blame someone, and that person is 100% of the problem. In actuality it's greyer than that, and several people had a % influence in this outcome. To some degree when you write a deceptive play you are gambling on your success with both confusing the other team and yet being understood by the referees. 70 did a bad job of tricking the Cowboys (literally no Cowboy was looking at him as he rubbed his belly) whilst misleading the ref. 68 was too indirect. The player next to 68 should not have blocked the ref's view of 68. The ref should have paused and clarified. Ultimately I have no idea how to assign % blame to each (or even if it makes sense to do so). But the options are obviously not 100% ref fault versus 100% 68's fault versus 100% 70's fault.
The announcement wasn’t that Allen was pulled from the playoffs because of that play. It was that Some Members of that Crew were not going to the playoffs, for reasons Unstated.
There were Actual referee failures, like seeing a cheating attempt as an actual trip and then punishing the Other team, and those are probably why the unspecified referees were downgraded.
Jomboy is the last word now in sports. He's able to break it down and who's analysis isn't compromised.
Every major league should just go to him as the ultimate authority on controversy involving video replays lol.
It's crazy how unbiased he sounds too, I have no clue if he's going for the cowboys or lions or the refs in this whole breakdown 😂
The best thing about jomboy is when he lip read the conversation.
Jomboy still got it wrong. Everyone can rub their chest but only one makes the verbal to the ref. He wasn’t paying attention. 70 never reported to him
I find it funny that people talk about how refs are all compromised by the league being in bed with draft kings, but jomboy isnt compromised despite draft kings being his main sponsor. I know it’s a different situation, it’s just funny to me
2:29 that slow fade-in of Syndrome's face being abruptly cut away had me dying! Lmao!
And when everyone's eligible? No one will be.
Me as well! No wonder the ref saw him and walked away!
@@Davidian_ 😂😂😂😂😂
I spit my food out
Here is what bothers me the most: The referee has to make an announcement to the stadium about the eligible receiver. Once referee Allen makes the announcement to the stadium that # 70 Skipper was an eligible receiver, why didn't anyone (Lions coach, the quarterback) from the Lions go to the referee and tell him that he called out the wrong number. You know the Lions had to hear the announcement. I know if I was the coach of the Lions, I would go up to the nearest official say, "the referee said the wrong number." Makes me wonder. Also, if the Lions were using two decoy players, the Cowboys would know who the real eligible receiver was because by rule they have to be notified. The Lions were 95% the blame, because the player is responsible for making sure the correct player is reported.
100000% agree. This is my main point. I want to hear the audio of the official saying 70 is an eligible receiver!
Because Allen did not make an announcement on the PA on that play -- and the NFL rules do not require that any announcement be made. Dallas knows which players are eligible based on the formation -- no defense relies on what they thought they heard the ref tell them. Most dbacks don't even bother listening to the ref because it makes no difference to their coverage.
@@mikemontana3443that’s completely false. There’s a Spanish broadcast of the game that has the PA announce 70. Also, formation doesn’t dictate who to cover on the line. That has to be communicated to the D, per the rule Jimbo read.
@@CodyWilson11 WRONG. The "Spanish broadcast" dubbed in a PA announcement from earlier in the game --it has been matched EXACTLY. The formation absolutely dictates who is eligible. The illegal formation penalty is based on the formation. Defenses cover based on the formation.
This is why we need you to do more NFL breakdowns.
plus the man has an entire team of researchers behind him for obscure rules, could be a goldmine
i understand baseball is his sport but football is so much better in terms of content
@@rj119xyeah fr IMO baseball is boring to me
I'd love to see more NFL breakdowns too, but the problem is that the NFL can request YT to take videos down as a copyright strike. This happened before with an NFL highlight channel, which forced the channel owner to shut down (?). It sucks.
Really good breakdown! Way more informative than most of the other commentary i've seen on this.
Now THAT is a breakdown. Good work Jimbo.
Jimothy?
Wow, this breakdown actually sheds a whole new light on the situation. Every other breakdown I've seen has completely omitted how 70 ran onto the field, and I haven't seen a SINGLE person mention the ref pointing directly at number 70 and saying "I understand, you're eligible". Lions fans in absolute shambles.
Ya but we don’t know what he said, it’s easy to guess after what happens
First time I seen #70 running on to field
Its crazy that one guy can look at it and figure out it was just a confusing situation while both ESPN and FOX have hours of people treating this like the biggest robbery in sports history.
Controversy is the business model for ESPN and FOX. They all know what they're doing.
ESPN & FOX don’t care about truth. They just care about pot-stirring and exploiting controversy for clicks. They see dollar-signs at times like this.
I mean, it did potentially cost us the first/second NFC seed, and it's not like the players did anything wrong so...
Because a guy within bad breath distance with the ref reporting as eligible and going to line up at the end of the line is less direct in his attempt to report than the guy sprinting in and is 10 years away from the ref and later lines up at an ineligible position to touch the ball is reporting.
Yeah, sure, pal. Did Roger sign your check personally?
It’s because the cowboys were on the winning side so of course there’s a controversy
Finally been waiting for this breakdown
Thank you for covering this moment
This play has been on my feed for a week, but yours is the first video that actually made me understand the core issues. Thank you!
I'm a Lions fan, but Jomboy has by far the best breakdown of the whole situation. He's the only one I've seen that has even included the NFL's official rule on the matter. Everything thing was hurried, so I can see how confusion and miscommunication could play a factor. Sucks, but there's always that possibly when you want to try a trick play.
Thanks for doing this. Before watching this, I really thought the ref botched this, but you showed exactly why he made the call he did. I think it comes down to the Lions getting too cute with deception and the official was the one they tricked in the end.
They are clearly trying to bend the rule in a deceptive way in order to trick the defense to not know who the elligible reciever is. Except the rule was created exactly for that purpose, whoever wrote this play up is the idiot, not the refs.
Except that the ref did fuck it up, as explained in this video.
@@J_LaPwatch the video again. It’s up to the players to make sure they are clearly communicating to the ref if they’re reporting and #68 did not. The ref was acknowledging #70 running onto the field not #68 regardless if #68 was closer to the ref at that time. I understand trying to be tricky to fool the defense but you also have to execute the trick properly.
@@justinb1382it’s the refs fault for not actually looking at two of the three guys walking at him
I’m going to explain the first “motion” #70 Skipper did on both plays. As he is running onto the field he is telling the offense the personnel grouping. He is not signaling that he is eligible.
Even on the first play, I didn’t see him swipe his jersey because he ran around players to get the refs attention.
Decker should have been more obvious. But to say the Lions got too cute with deception when the whole game of football is about deception is wild in my opinion.
The thing about sending multiple players to “confuse the defense” is that the refs report to the defense who the eligible players are. There’s no confusing the defense. They get told what the refs are told. You could only possible confuse the refs, which is what seems to have happened.
and according to the rule books, that's on the defense, not the refs
Not really, lots of teams like to have players report eligible throughout the game for no reason just to distract the defense and to make them stop paying attention to it. If the only times a player reported eligible was when they were doing a trick play of course it would never work. The Patriots famously used to do it all the time, and the lions did it in this game. It becomes background noise that the defense stop paying attention to.
To be fair, it can't be that hard to confuse a football player.
it confuses Dallas’ staff members who are watching for the guys reporting eligible. Even if it’s just an extra 15 second delay from signal to announcement that is long enough to make a difference in the play
@LoneLoaf that's not the issue here, though. It's not "did he report?" But rather, "who reported?"
The trick play was soo good that it tricked the ref!
Yeah... I think it tricked the Lions, too.
😂
The play wasn't the deception the substitution was the whole trick.Thats the point jomboy is trying to get across,the lions where trying shady crap and that's why it backfired.If they would have done things the right way the cowboys would have known 68 was a receiver.
If refs are getting tricked by trick plays, maybe they are in the wrong line of work
@@_Godpuncher_what? You said someone getting trick by a trick is their own fault. It’s like trying to trick the cops and you get arrested cuz the cops didn’t understand the trick, it’s stupid to think that hahaha
By far the best and most fair analysis of this penalty. Unbelievable that this happened, but it did.
Crazy that with all the immediate react noise about this... that THIS FULL breakdown showed so much more clearly about the miscommunication /mannerisms / communication fails.
Jomboy for the win again.
I'd heard about this controversy but hadn't seen what happened. Jomboy has saved me not only the trouble of watching it, but also figuring out whether the ref made the right decision.
Turns out they did and the Lions tried to do too much with it.
Subscribed.
JB, you should have a look at the AFL (Australian Football League) when the season starts in March. If I see anything interesting crop up I'll give you a heads up.
Good breakdown, although you should have also shown the announcement that 70 was eligible. Even if that was a mistake, you can't give them the points, because the defense was looking at 70, not 68, based on the announcement. But you're right to point out that the ref looks at 70, points to him, and nobody corrects him, because it was all intentional to try and deceive.
Right. great to capture the ref point at 70, as he runs on the field raising his hand and rubbing his chest see the ref tell Dallas #70. They can't complain about the call when they know Dallas was mislead by the ref eligible receiver call. The trick didn't work and the ref gets roasted. Note, I'm not a fan of NFL refs by any means.
Allen did not make an eligible announcement over the PA on that play. The defense had no dback on coverage of 70 because he was lined up as an interior lineman and was covered by 2 players - Sewell and Brown. Dallas had Wilson on man coverage on Decker. He collided with Reynolds and was late to the play. Allen pointed to 70 to acknowledge that he was the substitution -- the signal that 70 was giving and the reason that 70 does not say anything to Allen because he is not reporting as eligible -- and then Allen informed Dallas of the substitution and gave Dallas time to substitute.
@@mikemontana3443 I don't know man, 70 makes the eligible signal and then gets pointed at with a nod. This should have clued the Lions in that something might not be going to plan here I think.
@@jonashelmke2564 The ref had already nodded to 68 when he yelled "reporting". The ref's nod to 70 was to acknowledge that he was acknowledging that he was substituting in. 70 has to continue to approach the ref until he gets that acknowledgement from the ref. Players cannot "sneak" into the game as substitutions. 70 cannot report as eligible by just running onto the field and making a gesture with his hand. 70 has to say something to the ref about reporting -- and did not. Detroit cannot read the ref's mind to know whether he is correctly identifying 70 as a substitution or misidentifying 70 as eligible. BUT what Detroit does know is that IMMEDIATELY after recognizing 70 as he substituted in, the ref told Dallas that they could substitute. That clued Detroit in that everything was going to plan.
@@mikemontana3443 He absolutely made the announcement. It’s on video and is heard clearly on Dallas’ radio broadcast in real time.
Two NFL offensive linemen give a great breakdown of the reporting process on the O-Line Committee podcast. Multiple professional perspectives on this play, one blames the player(s), one blames the ref.
Thanks for that tip, I'm going to listen to it, I'm curious what other players think and not just rabid fans
So the one blaming the refs is wrong. Jomboy showed this pretty easily.
@@godlikemonolith Incorrect. Jomboy is uneducated on the rule. A player is required to say to the ref that he is reporting which #70 did not do.
@@Tyrantofthewindright but he motioned that he was, trying to trick the cowboys defense and make them believe he was eligible, the issue is he tricked the referees as well.
Once again Jomboy changes my opinion on something
As a guy who doesn't watch Football... this just seems dumb. You have to "report"? Let every person on the field be allowed to catch a ball!
Thanks for this breakdown. Better than anything on tv or explanation from anyone else.
You didn't cover the phantom tripping penalty.
I was waiting for this breakdown. Thanks.
I really thought Lions got robbed hard on that call, but this makes a lot of sense from referee’s perspective. Its eye opening
They did the refs have been demoted for it.
These breakdowns are always so well done. Reading lips is a huge bonus.
Jom, Jim, jimmy, jimmothy thank you so much. This puts a different perspective on the call. The nfl needs to call you for help.
Goff gets the call to run the Play. He tells #68 to go report.
(That is ALL that Goff knows, he has no idea what actually takes place after that)
#68/#58 start to leave the huddle. While on the edge of the huddle, still in it, you can see #68 raise his right arm *one* time. *one* - Then it goes back down to his side. #68 continues to walk towards the Ref. With his arms remaining at his side the entire approach. #58/#68 get to the Ref and #68's arms remain at his sides. (no words have been spoken no signs have been giving yet)
Meanwhile #70 is running onto the field. New Reverse Angle Video shows what #70 was doing his *entire* run-on
He comes on the field with his Left Arm raised in the Air and his right arm across his chest, moving up and down.
#70's interview:
*Left Arm* - raised in the air
*Right Arm* - is giving the #2 sign across my chest. Signal for "12 Jumbo".
(His Right Arm is moving up and down because he is running)
Now watch the video and see what that looks like.
Now Imagine you are the Ref, your attention is drawn to #70 running on.
(You see the Ref look directly at #70 and point at #70)
What does #70's motions resemble? What Signal does it look like?
*What does the Ref see?*
Left arm raised, while the other arm is going up and down in front of his chest?
Does that set of movements sound familiar? *Yes*
Accidental or not, #70 gave a signal in the Ref's Direction.
While running towards the Ref, that mimic's an Eligible Signal.
Do I think that #70 was giving signals to his teammates? Yes
As a former RT in High School and College, we had Internal Team Signals as well.
#70 even references that they use "Personnel Signals".
*Skipper's Quote:*
_"Everyone who’s played at this level, I’m sure all you guys know that you signal in personnel."_
But if your Team Signals closely resemble an NFL Reporting Signal, then someone on the Lions Staff *HAS* to recognize this potentially dangerous misapprehension. 100%
As #70 is running on, giving his Signal, Ref looks and Points.
#70 then stops giving the Signal and continues to run towards the Ref.
Upon seeing the Signal from #70 and #58/#68 at this point have not Physically/Verbally said anything yet to the Ref.
The Ref starts to turn away (heading towards Dallas)
At this moment Decker raises his Right Arm to his waist *once* .
But the Ref had already started to turn away from #58/#68 and #58 is now in-between #68 and the Ref.
As the Ref takes a step away, you can see #68 Decker's head lean towards the Ref.
This is when it appears that #68 is finally trying to Declare.
Some people say #68 was yelling/talking the entire time.
But, #68 himself, said that he said only one word: "Report".
Re-watch #68's path from Huddle to Ref. When did he say this word? When?
Decker was trying to wait until the last moment to declare. (it's part of the design).
And #70 is still running towards the Ref to keep the ruse going.
As the Ref turns away then #68 Raises his Arm, I think that is when #68 says the word "Report".
and watch where #70 is at when that occurs. Much closer to #68.
Still advancing towards the Ref (not the Huddle).
As the Ref is turning away further, and #68 says the word "Report"
The Ref had #70's Signal. #58/#68 hadn't giving any Physical/Verbal Signs yet.
The Refs head was *turning away* and he hears the word "Report" (from someone).
The Ref looks in the Direction of #68 and #70, make note of where #70 is at that time.
#70 is now almost behind #68. The Ref nods. and continues towards Dallas.
Once again, put yourself in the Ref's shoes and think about what you have just witnessed.
Now imagine the Lions practice for this play.
You can practice and practice, but there are always variables that you can't account for.
Obviously they had someone play the part of the Ref.
But ask yourself, did the Ref move around? Stand still? What?
My guess is that the Ref stood in one place the entire time.
I imagine they ran this play over and over.
(Imagine Their Practice)
In #68's head, he had plenty of time.
At practice he waits until 70 is really close, then he tells the Ref.
Then the Ref might walk away. Or maybe the pretend-Ref just stands there and the players go to the huddle.
I wold love to see the Practice Tapes.
I don't think #68 expected the Ref to suddenly start running away. It caught #68 off-guard.
So he quickly tried to Declare. With one swipe and says the word "Report".
I would wager that these live-events were not like practice.
I think the Lions designed a Great Play!
But the execution and other circumstances killed it.
Did he think 58 and 68 were coming over for tea and cookies? I contend an official with any integrity would have acknowledged their failure to pay attention to players clearly trying to report and kept the flag in their pocket. This honestly makes it look like he ignored those guys for some reason and decided to make it somebody else’s problem when his fvckup came to light.
Agreed. Fans often do not even attempt to put themselves in the ref’s shoes or think about their field-of-view, the timing of everything, or all the other things they have to remember & focus on.
@@sithticklefingers7255 The Ref looks and watches #58/#68 approach. I've never denied that. It's obvious. But their intentions are not the pure responsibility of the Ref.
Re-Read what I wrote. The Ref wasn't ignoring them. He watched them walk from the huddle, across the field....and do what? Nothing. They weren't giving signals, they weren't saying anything. They get to the Ref and stand there....Arms at their side. Mouths not saying anything. They *had* the Ref's attention their *entire* walk.
The Ref is not going to stand there and try to guess why they approached. He gives them ample time to say/do something. Then his attention focuses on #70 running onto the field, giving hand signals that mimic the Eligible Signal.
@@marvinmange4805 I appreciate the lengthy analysis. In this situation, the Lions have got to make sure that the Ref has correctly interpreted their signals and communication. From what we see in the videos, it looks like they just made the assumption that it was clear enough. They also failed to make the correction once the Ref announced #70 as the eligible receiver. Someone should have been able to notice that the Ref had gotten it wrong before the play started.
Outstanding job! Been watching your channel a long time, but this is probably the most impressive video I've seen from you. Really glad you didn't get it wrong like most NFL fans and even NFL analysts (see Rex Ryan). By "see Rex Ryan," I don't mean watch him... or even look at him. I wouldn't recommend either... I just meant as a reference to my point about NFL analysts having their heads lodged in their colon!
Great breakdown presenting ideas I haven’t heard before. I thought the Lions got screwed and maybe they did but now I have enough doubt to no longer take a side in this.
You should be on ESPN. I ve watched this explanation 50 times from all different analysts and no one breaks it down like you. Well done.
No he shouldn't, ESPN is terrible.
Jomboy is the only "media" that points out what everone that isn't a butthurt Lions fan sees clear as day. That 70 does signal the ref, the ref is looking right at him and points at him.
Love how all the lions sideline tried to act like they weren’t trying to get sneaky
Jeez, Jimmy, you are a friggin wizard. I just learned more about football in six minutes than the previous 46 years of cumulative football knowledge. Your frank, matter-of-fact breakdowns, with their remarkable editing, keen interpretation, and open-ended explanations of applicable rules make for such digestible and entertaining videos, REGARDLESS OF THE SPORT.
That's what I think, at least. And don't even get me started on Things You Missed! Endlessly fascinating
Decker turning into a villain has me laughing like a maniac at 530am 😂
Good breakdown, but the ref clearly looks at 68 after looking at 70 at 4:16. And in that moment 68 would be saying “I am reporting”to the ref while 70 does not say a word
Wow. Unbiased. Exceptional journalism.
Good job on the breakdown. There is another clip out there where the Ref says over the PA that #70 is now reporting as eligible. When the Lions' coach or players heard this, they should have gotten the attention of the Ref, called time out, threw the red hanki, or what ever was needed to get the proper eligible number announced to the defence. Yes their trick play would have been busted though.
Had no more timeouts
Where is the video of the referee saying that over the PA system? We heard it but did we see him say it?
They were out of TOs, but I suspect if Campbell had gone sprinting out barking that they screwed up the eligibility they would have ironed it out. He's admitted that he heard the announcement but felt he didn't have time to do anything...but I think he's being dishonest. Naturally, if he had to call the report to attention to have it fixed, it would have highlighted 68 all the more and ruined the plan for the play. That he clammed up strongly suggests to me that he hoped the play would work (all the more likely since the defense wouldn't be covering 68) and the report would be forgotten by the refs...while also keeping things open to complain if they ended up penalized, as things ended up happening. I've lost a good chunk of respect for Campbell because of this, which makes me sad (because I like him and the job he's done).
You are the best! All those sports show could not put together a breakdown like this. This clearly shows the lions fucked up!
Only missed the part where you can clearly hear the referee announcing 70 as elegible on the broadcast, before the snap even happens (so it's not like they called it only because the try was good).
Love the objective breakdown, great job
The booth can, in fact, hear the referee announcing the eligible player. Detroit knew the ref said the wrong number and ran the play anyway.
@@ChadillacSimpson my point was that that is the info the defense is playing on, and why 68 was wide open. Maybe this will make teams like the Lions have someone dedicated to making sure their deceptive plays are announced as expected when theyre trying to be deceptive
Yes but the ref was incorrect when he announced that....
What are the lions supposed to do at that point? They can't call time out
@@_Godpuncher_Sort it out with the refs to make sure they know the correct player reporting as eligible or audible if time is low. Running it anyways and hoping the penalty isn't called is just dumb.
@@_Godpuncher_ they can absolutely get the side judge's attention and tell him they've announced the wrong person, im sure an officials timeout and a correction would've happen then
i'm so glad you did this breakdown. the situation was a lot more complicated than i initally realized.
Yeah, sometimes the huge dudes get in the normal sized ref's way. Its hard to imagine that perspective and how little the ref's are actually able to see with everyone on the field being so massive.
Holy shit…. John boy, you completely changed my mind on how I thought of this play…
Incredible breakdown
Yeah that was very insightful, redeeming almost
If there ever was an NFL play, JomBoy would cover this is the one
What I really don't understand is the Lions were clearly trying to create deception by sending 3 guys at the ref... but if I'm not mistaken, the ref then goes and tells the defense who has reported as eligible.
So why create this scenario in the first place?
They were hoping the Cowboys weren’t paying attention the announcement, which is entirely plausible since apparently the Lions didn’t hear the announcement
Because the ref tells the defense 5-10 seconds later. By then, they have less (or no) time to sub players to match the situation and less time to communicate coverage assignments with each other.
Seems like the plan was to trick the Cowboys into thinking 70 was eligible while 68 was not. But it all backfired when the Cowboys were the only ones on the field who WEREN'T fooled.
I've been to a handful of NFL games and I'm pretty sure that it was announced over the p.a. every time a player reported as eligible. I distinctly remember a game in Foxboro where it actually became annoying because the same guy reported on nearly every play. If that's the standard, it should be on tape somewhere who the referee actually reported. Everyone in the stadium including the Lions coaching staff should have been alerted as to which player was eligible....no?
@uncldug the referee told the defense and stadium announced that 70 was eligible, there’s no confusion on that point.
A point missed was that the announcer announced to the whole stadium and the ref to the cowboys defense that 70 is eligible. Lions had time to correct it. They still decided to throw to him anyways. Another point is and never gets talked about is he’s open because they were told 70 is the eligible receiver, not 68. Why would they guard a player that’s not eligible lol of course he’s going to be wide open
What could the lions do? They had no time outs left so it was either take a delay of game or audible cause the refs messed up
The lions did not have time to correct it. How on earth do you have this take?
Here's the thing is 70 was going to receive. Why the hell 68 go up there and tell him that he was receiving. 70 was just let her know he was eligible to get on the field cuz anything from 65 to 74 has a report to let him know that they're eligible to play. 68 and 58 went up there to let the rough know that 68 was able to receive
To cause confusion. If #68 was the only one reporting, why then #58 go to the ref and #70 move towards him. Again, to cause confusion. #70 did not need to raise his hand to substitute.
There a such thing as an officials timeout to correct stuff. All they had to do was say something. It happens all the time when there is confusion. Still, Lions had 3 opportunities and didn't get it done. You might say "oh they got it the first time" and that's where my second point comes into play, he is ONLY that wide open because the defense isn't guarding a player that isn't reported as eligible @@tinguspingus7387
The whole point of reporting eligibility is that you’re not allowed to deceive the opposition about who can touch the ball.
Thank you for covering this controversial ay with the facts, and only the facts, professionally without bias. We need more people to be like this. Thank you.
Best breakdown I’ve seen. Reverses my opinion entirely. Thank you for the sanity.
I think number 70. The second time is coming in with his arm up looking at to sub out the wide receiver. You can clearly see him calling the wide receiver and the receiver runs off the field.
Ok but the whole stadium heard them call #70 as a eligible receiver instead of #68 but still decided to throw to #68
Exactly - he's communicating a personnel change, not reporting eligible
I kinda saw it as "trying to tell 68 to do this motion" which probably got the wrong results lol
Arm up is to indicate substitution and that he is not in the huddle at the same time the person he is replacing. He also had his hand on his chest. If he was doing a swipping motion, I can not tell from the angles I have seen.
The fact that Skipper tried to deny report to the fullest is hilarious 😂
He didn't report. The NFL rules are you have to go up to the referee and tell them you are reporting...which he did not do. The ref fucked up regardless of whether or not you see the play as ultimately the lions fault for not being clearer. What #70 points to or what hand signs he makes are irrelevant, particularly when someone is reporting as eligible in the actual correct method via the rules. You have to go up to the ref and say it.
Skipper's hands and signalling on the way in is one that Jomboy got wrong.
Skipper never moves his hand up and down and never places a second hand on his chest. The reporting eligible hand signal is two hands moving up and down repeatedly across the numbers. Skipper is holding a flexed arm to the side and placing two fingers on his chest to tell the his team the "power 12" package has been called in. This tells the players in that package group to stay and everyone else should be leaving. So Skipper is not signalling that he's eligible at all and never motions in a manner even remotely similar. That said, a hand motion isn't required to report. To report a player must only approach the referee prior to the snap and declare that they are reporting. There is no video of Skipper doing that.
What Skipper does do is run in the same way that he normally does for this formation. Normally he will go directly to the ref after setting the player package and declare himself eligible because they normally put him in the TE position on Power 12. This time he does not go to the ref. He stops at Decker (#68) and talks to him instead. The ref however, presumes he's going to check in as eligible and points to him while he's still jogging. That is when the mistakes begin.
After the game Dan Campbell said the explanation the he got was "two players couldn't report eligible". This is why the ref ignored #68's report. It came after he acknowledged #70. But that is actually incorrect. Two or more players can report eligible on any given play. So the ref accepted a report before it happened and then ignored a report because he had a wrong interpretation of the rules in his mind.
The deception the Lions engaged in was having Skipper run on the field the same way he normally does toward the referee, but its on the referee to ensure all of the requirements are met for a player to report every time and he did not do that.
@@stratton99 oh deal Lord 😂 😂 😂 it’s all there. He signaled the ref pointed to him. Get real 😂
Notice how Jomboy starts the breakdown before the game ending tripping call called against the wrong team
jomboy literally covers this situation better than the referees, and the entire media. i had no clue 70 was reporting in all game as eligible, and so now i understand why the refs got confused at the end.. as a cowboys fan im glad the cowboys won, but it seems like the NFL didn’t make an attempt to defend the referees, or to even explain what happened to the same extent as jomboy
Yes. More information from Jomboy than all of the organizations involved.
Great breakdown. But I don’t believe Allen and co are being downgraded for this one play specifically. There was a bad tripping call on the previous cowboy drive that likely prevented the cowboys from running out the clock and nullifying this debacle in the first place. Overall not a well called game. Multiple missed holding calls.
I’ll be interested to see wha happens if they meet again in the playoffs.
68 probably wouldn't of been left alone if the number was called correctly to the defense as well.
Jomboy never disappoints, amazing breakdown , now i can finally make up my mind in this situation 😊
Wow bro! Best breakdown I’ve seen and completely changes the entire narrative of the entire situation. I realize why the nfl and sports media didn’t do this good of a job cause then they wouldn’t have had anything to talk about.
OK. You got my subscription. To my knowledge, only you and one other guy on youtube got this right. Good job. Also, don't forget to consider, the noise level in the stadium at this moment was very high, so the refs probably couldn't hear very well. At any rate, he announced that 70 was eligible on the PA so all could hear. Anybody who actually knew what happened (ie: The Lions coach and #70) and who threw the ref under the bus is a coward.
Every lions fan, cowboys fan, nfl fan needs to see this.
Nothing is going to happen, that's why claims of rigging will continue. This has been an issue for many years but it's only gotten worse.
We all saw it, did you see the tripping call that would have sealed the game?
The only issue is Jomboy is incorrect in his interpretation. 70 was indicating the play call by flexing and placing his hand in the shape of a gun on his chest, signs the Lions regularly use pre snap. The ref misinterpreted this as 70 reporting and made the wrong call. I'm not a fan of either team but the wrong call was made and the league needs to improve its officiating.
@@borafett3005yup! And this was the third or fourth end of game controversial call by this Brad Allen crew this season!
They deserve to be downgraded from the playoffs! But the NFL needs full time refs and an extra official in the booth to quickly correct calls like the XFL had (most replay reviews are answered to the audience before the broadcast cuts to commercial)
@@borafett3005 The call was correct. WHY was #70 running on the field toward the official, instead of to the huddle? Why were TWO linemen walking to the official instead of the actual player that was reporting? WHY did the Lions NOT correct the official AFTER it was announced over the PA that #70 reported? They all heard it, had a chance to correct it and did not. The ref made the correct call. ua-cam.com/video/gQAlQk4brCI/v-deo.htmlsi=dKGrjSECc_OLsXJY
I heard so much that it was an absolute blown call by the refs for this. Even knowing that they did bring 70 in as a diversion tactic to confuse the Cowboys defense. But this is the first that I seen that when he ran in, he also signaled as eligible. And with them using that player thought the season as their eligible lineman, I can absolutely see why the ref thought he was the one reporting. I still think once the ref announced that 70 reported eligible, you would think that SOMEONE (coach/qb) would have been like, wait a moment, that isn't what we were doing, and have some way to correct the situation.
1. They can't say "wait a moment" they had to hurry and snap the ball
2. More than 1 player can be eligible
So yea
If they were to correct the official it would give away the trick in their trick play. They were obviously just hoping that nobody would notice and the 2 point conversion would stand. Some might call that cheating.
No time out, and even if he knew the head coach said he didn’t hear them say 70 over the intercom
Also would bring more attention to 68 so Dallas would make sure to cover him
"So personnel, you signal in," Skipper told reporters on Wednesday.. "I wasn't like this (as he wipes his numbers). I was not doing that - I was doing this (holding one arm up and another by his stomach, with two fingers out), signaling 12 jumbo. Everyone who's played at this level, I'm sure all you guys know that you signal in personnel."
yeah there are a lot of people commenting that have not looked into this issue at all beyond maybe a tweet and then this jomboy breakdown. the refs fucked it up. doesnt matter what excuse they make, brad allen literally ignored a player trying to talk to him and used his bias (from a previous play where skipper reported) to make an assumption and he was just flat out wrong. just because the PA announcer says 70 doesnt mean anything. it just means he was also wrong. skipper never approached the ref.
I don't usually see players signaling the ref when they come in.
@@ppumpkin3282 Signaling your own team on your way in. To get the right substitution made, so you don't end up with 12 men in the huddle.
@@freshprince3573 The video literally shows 70 rubbing his number. Lions fucked themselves.
Sounds like a good learning opportunity to not use a similar hand signal for ref communication as personnel communication.
I have no clue where the sports world would be without the supreme knowledge of Jboy.
It’s the little things like scrolling Jomboy toward the end of the video that don’t get enough love.
After watching your video I now have a completely different perspective of what happened. Your views and the accompanying explanation show me that #70 had reported and received an acknowledgement from the referee.
There was no verbal acknowledgment by Skipper though, so that wouldn’t work
@@jc43261jc If You've spent much time in a football field with crowd noise and players yelling, you'd see that the eye contact and pointing directly at the player should have sufficed.
Wow... The best footage I've seen on this so far! Nobody else out on UA-cam has the zoomed in footage of both Linemen rubbing and signaling at the same time, clearly showing Brad Allen looking directly at number 70. Deception bit the Lions in the butt... Thanks for showing us this footage. I still wonder why you can't hear the "Number 70 has reported as eligible" on the Aikman / Buck broadcast, yet you can hear it on the Spanish broadcast clearly.
68 signaled "eligible receiver"
"Skipper did use hand signals that might have been misinterpreted by Allen as reporting eligibility, but Skipper says those were to identify personnel groupings for the offense. One arm was raised in the air with a flexed bicep, Detroit’s signal for a jumbo package, while the other hand was shaped like a gun near his chest, the signal for 12 personnel, a package that includes one running back, two tight ends and two receivers on the field."
The Lions just got too tricky by half and ended up tricking the refs instead of the Cowboys. The Ref even anounced #70 over the stadium PA system. If 70 wasn't correct they should have said something right then.
That's a really dumbass response. The refs fucked up, how come the Lions didn't take a delay-of-game penalty? Well... because they did everything right.
Rex Ryan explained it the best. As a coach BEFORE the game even starts, they tell the officials what "trick" plays they might run and explain to them all of the unique or uncommon alignments they will use. They do this so that the officials know what's going on, so that they aren't confused when it happens. You see, they're trying to confuse Dallas, not the zebras. He explains it even more and how the whole process is supposed to work. That's why the crew was downgraded. They knew beforehand and still fucked up.
Either way you feel about the decision, listen to Rex and his perspective as a former coach. It was really interesting to hear his breakdown and explanation.
Here's the link to Rex's explanation : ua-cam.com/video/xqJLVodSjac/v-deo.htmlsi=pbXRKDqWGY7fU0Q-
Also, it turns out Allen - the ref - missed the standard procedure meeting with the coaches. That's likely why they were downgraded and not the botched call! A total farce.
This totally is the best breakdown I've seen of this. As a Cowboys fan, it does make the win a little more legit to me now. As I watched the replay, it looked like Detroit was trying to be secretive about who the eligible receiver was. I thought it was said on tv that even though when players report to the ref about that, they have to tell the defense about it. Whatever the case, I thought it was something that even the rules go-to guy was up in the air about the call. But then he did defer to the rules about it being the player's responsibility to report. Awesome breakdown though!
I've been waiting all week for this video. When you read the rules, and you see what the Lions did...I think this 100% absolves the refs of any wrongdoing.
The one thing that I have heard that puts it back on the offense, is that the ref clearly announced 70, and not 68 on the PA system. Since it is the players responsibility to be recognized, the lack of 68 paying attention to the announcement puts it back on him.
There's no point trying to decieve the defense. The ref tells the defense who's reporting as eligible.
Also, if Dallas was told 68 was eligible instead of 70, they would have covered him. The outcome of the play may have been different.
Nah it all happens so fast. Every deception helps.
@@SeraphsWitness Problem that very few people have mentioned: the NFL very clearly does not want teams to engage in pre-snap procedural deception. Hence pausing things if there is a late substitution by the offense and hence the penalty for 12 men in the huddle (which gets applied even if the 12th guy simply approaches the huddle). The Lions knew darn well that this sort of thing isn't kosher, but because it isn't a penalty (likely because the NFL figured there's little point to trying this sort of thing) they tried it anyway. That's on them.
@@redsoxu571 No, that's on the NFL. It's not against the rules, so enforcing it as if it is against the rules is deceptive in itself.
@@SeraphsWitness You'd be correct, *if* this involved NFL enforcement, e.g. if the ref threw a flag because of some deceptive reporting or if it ruled #70 eligible for that reason. None of that happened. My point is that the NFL has made it clear that it wants teams to be totally above board with pre-snap procedures, and *thus does not promise them any protections if they act below board*. The Lions were not restricted from trying what they tried, but then they were rolling the dice that the refs would be both ready and willing to get everything exactly right. Certainly the goal is for the refs to sort through any reporting confusion as the offensive team desires, but if that doesn't happen as a result of not-kosher reporting actions...that's the fault of the team, not the refs.
The Lions tried gamesmanship in an area they know the league doesn't want, and hoped that the lack of rules against it would make it go off without a hitch. That's the downside of trying something like this - it can go wrong. It went wrong, and just as importantly it didn't lock them up from still winning anyway. That failure is also on them.
@@redsoxu571 it's not against the rules. You spent a lot of words to completely ignore the point.
I just dont understand why they would attempt so hard to mask his eligibility when by rule like it shows at the end if this video, the ref immediately goes to the other team and tells them who reported as eligible and then ANNOUNCES TO THE ENTIRE STADIUM the same information. I know im not on the field so maybe theres just something i dont know, but it seems like it is a lot of effort to keep something hidden that wont remain a secret anyways
Yes. Exactly.
A game I didn’t watch and didn’t plan on watching… ty JBM
Been waiting for this breakdown lol
Why not talk about how we got here with a lions defensive lineman trying to trip the Dallas running back but the Cowboys got flagged for it at the 2min warning. It would have been first and 10 at the 14 vs 2nd and 25 at the 44. 3 runs and a field goal would have burned the lions last 2 time outs and left them with under 30 seconds after kickoff. That’s saying the cowboys don’t score or get a first down in that 3 plays.
I think this falls pretty heavily on #68 for not making it obvious to the ref so that it wouldn’t have been a problem… and then on the lions as a whole for not kicking the extra point after the penalty. That choice was 100% emotional rather that situational.
It does per the rules, but how much more clear can you be? Do you have to go tug the ref’s sleeve if he doesn’t acknowledge your signal? The official’s attention should be on the players approaching him, not the one guy on the other side of the field. That was piss poor by any measure.
That is exactly what I have been saying.
i couldnt agree more with this statement. just kick the ball already
@@sithticklefingers7255 You mean the one guy on the other side of the field thats running towards the ref waving his hand in the air while wiping his chest? Thats the guy the ref shouldn't be paying attention to? The same guy thats been doing that all day when he's trying to report?
The head ref should understand the reason two 300 lb lineman run up to him before #70 is even on the field. Ignoring them isn't an excuse.
Best video on this subject without taking sides and without emotion. Well done Jomboy! I love the lipreading lol! 👍
Theres videos of the head ref making a PA anouncement of 70 reporting as eligible.....no mention of 68.
Also...it was an illegal formation. None of this even matters haha.
Troy said it was illegal because he heard that 70 was eligible and he was 'covered'.
If someone had tried to convince me there's an NFL rule that says 'Before players of a particular shirt number-range are allowed to catch the ball they must rub their belly and be seen waving at the ref', id tell them that's ridiculous. No sport would ever have a rule so unintuitive.
You should watch the Dolphins, Christian Wilkins’ antics on PAT’s/FG’s. He screams at the refs while doing that chest motion. He makes damn sure they know he’s eligible.
Wilkins is so awesome. Going to kill me if Grier fucks it up and doesn’t re-sign him.
Problem that your missing is the audio that clearly shows 68 telling the ref and it's the audio that got him downgraded
Dude, first time ever watching any of your videos. This was great! Just subscribed
Dan Skipper is running on the field and signaling the formation to the huddle. In the first quarter he signaled the formation and then continued running to the ref to also report. The ref got confused because he saw Skipper flashing the formation and it is done in a similar spot on the body to reporting.... but to report it has to be done directly in front of the ref.... not while running on the field. That's the little minor difference in the 1st quarter reporting and the 2pt try.
🤡
This right here. The official needs to hear it from the player. That’s why 70 was upset because he literally never said a word to the official. No clue if 68 ever spoke up. Both sides need to communicate more clearly or this sort of nonsense will keep happening.
Sure looked to me like he saw decker reporting 1st. So why choose skipper.
There's also a verbal component required, which Skipper very passionately said he did not give. No matter how you look at it, it was incorrect for the refs to declare Skipper (70). People might argue that Decker (68) didn't properly declare, but it is undeniable that Skipper definitely did not.
@@prestonowings7205go back to your crayons
Smart move by the Lions to have one of their own guys diatract the ref so their player couldn't report
I knew this breakdown was coming, and I'm still not ready to relive it
Thanks for making one of the most confusing plays in recent memory more understandable.
Go back to the part where Aidan Hutchinson tried to trip the cowboy in the cowboy got called for it😂