As PFT explained on Monday, the NFL will not be changing the procedure for ineligible players reporting as eligible to catch as pass. However, the league did on Tuesday issue a reminder to all teams about the current rules.
A memo to all coaches and General Managers included a link to a video regarding the situation that unfolded on Saturday night in Dallas.
“As a reminder to clubs and players, an offensive player numbered 50 through 79, or 90 through 99, is permitted to line up as an eligible pass receiver,” NFL V.P. of officiating Walt Anderson explains in the 1:45 clip, a copy of which PFT has seen. “To allow the defense an opportunity to match personnel to avoid deception, and to ensure fairness, the player must immediately report the change in his eligibility status to the referee, who will inform the defensive team and will make an announcement to the stadium before that play.
“It is the responsibility of the player to be sure that change in status is clearly communicated to the referee by both a physical signal with his hands, up and down in front of his chest, and to report to the referee his intention to report as an eligible receiver. . . .
“This process has been in place for many years, and is intended to provide proper notification to the defense when players are lined up in positions that their number would not allow.”
The video shows Lions tackle Dan Skipper reporting as eligible in the first quarter of Saturday night’s game. It also shows him entering the field as if he were reporting as eligible prior to the two-point play. Lions coach Dan Campbell has admitted that the offense was hoping to confuse the Dallas defense as to the identity of the eligible player. That’s why Skipper, even though he wasn’t reporting as eligible, ran toward referee Brad Allen, as if Skipper were reporting as eligible.
The memo is no surprise. The NFL’s position is that the Lions tried to engage in deceptive and gamesmanship by hiding the true identity of the eligible player. The Lions wanted the Cowboys to think it was Dan Skipper, when in reality it was Taylor Decker. The Lions assumed Allen would figure it out, and that he would announce to the stadium that 68, not 70, is eligible. The Lions hoped that, amid the noise and the chaos, the Cowboys would focus on the wrong guy.
That’s fine, as long as the effort doesn’t work so well that it fools the referee. As explained in the video from the league, it’s about giving the defense fair notice as to who is, and isn’t, eligible. The Lions deliberately tried to skirt that requirement, in order to gain an advantage over the Cowboys.
It would have worked, if the Lions had made it sufficiently clear to Allen that Decker, not Skipper, was eligible. If the Lions had done that, however, the Cowboys might have figured it out — and they might have successfully covered Decker.
