With the Eagles losing to the Cardinals on Sunday, Saturday night’s outcome in the Detroit-Dallas game becomes even more significant. As does the two-point play nullified by an illegal touching penalty based on a communication blunder regarding who was and wasn’t reporting as eligible.
In a nutshell, the Lions sent offensive lineman Dan Skipper — who routinely reports as eligible as the tight end in jumbo sets — onto the field. Skipper ran toward referee Brad Allen, as if Skipper were reporting as eligible. At the same time, two other offensive lineman (including tackle Taylor Decker) approached Allen from the other direction.
Allen interpreted the exchange as Skipper, not Decker, reporting as eligible.
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the NFL does not plan to change the procedure for players reporting as eligible. The league views the situation as an effort by the Lions to engage in deception and gamesmanship that backfired.
Basically, the Lions wanted the Cowboys to think Skipper was reporting as eligible and that Decker was not. Which would have caused the Cowboys to cover Skipper, not Decker, when the play unfolded. The problem is that, in trying to confuse the Cowboys, the Lions confused Allen.
Skipper running toward Allen was not an accident. Skipper was trying to create the impression that he was reporting as eligible, as he routinely does. (Last week against the Vikings, for example, Skipper reported as eligible six different times.)
Part of the problem is that the Lions relied on verbally communicating the eligible/ineligible information to Allen without using the clear, inconspicuous non-verbal signal of the eligible player running his hands over the front of his jersey. It was, apparently, part of the effort to confuse the Cowboys. Which, in turn, confused Allen.
After the game, Lions coach Dan Campbell said that he explained the play to the officials before the game. The question becomes whether Campbell explained the play itself, or whether Campbell explained his plan to set the play up with an effort to confuse the Cowboys as to who was, and wasn’t, eligible.
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, Brad Allen was not present for the pregame meeting with Campbell. That’s standard procedure. It’s not known whether Campbell explained that a shell game of sorts would be played before the play to confuse the Cowboys. It’s hard to imagine Campbell articulating that.
Think about it. “Look,” Campbell might have said, “we’ve got a play in the game plan tonight that includes throwing a pass to a tackle. But here’s what we’re gonna do. We’ll be making it look like a different guy is reporting as eligible than the one who is really reporting as eligible, because we want to confuse the Cowboys about who is and isn’t eligible. So when that happens, go along with it, OK?”
It’s hard to imagine Campbell being so candid about the trick that the Lions were trying to pull. Articulating it that way sounds a little off. It sounds a little wrong. It sounds a little like something a team probably shouldn’t be trying to do. Like something that is on the wrong side of the line of what is and isn’t fair.
Regardless, the only way the Lions could have properly prepared Allen for that moment would have been to get Allen in on the ruse. He clearly wasn’t. The Lions ran their plan so well that it confused Allen. And, frankly, it’s on the Lions to find the sweet spot between confusing the opponent and not confusing the officials.
So, no, the NFL won’t be changing the procedure. It’s up to the teams to use it the right way. If they deliberately confuse the situation as a matter of strategy, they have to accept the consequences of potentially confusing the officials, too.