🔥 nobody ever went viral on twitter for claiming the referees got a call right
Last night, in the Dallas-Detroit football game, there was a controversial call. "Ineligible receiver".
And ... the problem is that many football fans don't know the rule here.
✨ if nobody breaks a rule for 99 years, people will forget the rule exists.
The rule in football is that seven offensive players must be on the line of scrimmage, and only the two on the ends are eligible to go down-field and receive a forward pass.
In the NFL (and normally in college), players with numbers 50-79 are lineman and are by-default ineligible, unless they report to the referee as eligible. The report is then announced over the loudspeaker.
Before the play, the referees announced that #70 on Detroit would be eligible. The formation (and play) were such that #68 was the intended receiver. And the play was successful; possibly because Dallas thought #68 was ineligible.
So there was a penalty.
And now, ten thousand slack-jawed yokels on Twitter are shouting that the NFL is rigged.
💡 when enforcing the rules is viewed as a crime, it is a short path to anarchy
--MORE--
The Lions' 2-point conversion attempt with 23 seconds left that went for a score to Decker was wiped out due to an illegal touching penalty. The Lions had an extra offensive lineman, Dan Skipper, come in the game before the play, and three Lions linemen, including Decker, moved toward referee Brad Allen and seemed to say something, ESPN's replays showed. Decker was not announced as an eligible receiver, which meant he wasn't allowed to catch the go-ahead 2-point play. The score was taken off the board as Lions head coach Dan Campbell screamed at officials. That score would have put the Lions ahead 21-20 with just a few seconds left.
...
ESPN officiating analyst John Parry seemed to agree that Decker made an attempt, but for some reason it wasn't recognized.
"I don't think [referee] Brad Allen ever recognized Decker," said Parry, who was an NFL official for 19 seasons. "I think he sees No. 70 [Skipper] come off the bench and he follows him all the way into the line of scrimmage.
"I think Decker tries to get to him and say, 'Hey, me too, I'm with the eligibles on this play.'"
Aikman pointed out that Decker was trying to tell the official without drawing a lot of attention to himself. The Lions didn't want to alert the Cowboys that Decker might have been running a route.
Yahoo! Sports
This is squarely "fuck around and find out" territory. "Trick" plays that rely on deceiving the defense as-to who is an eligible receiver are not allowed in football. Detroit fucked around with trickery, and ...
⚔️ well, actually, now they have millions of idiots claiming they were the victims here! the only thing better than winning in today's America is being able to claim you were cheated out of a victory!