Article is from TheScore app by Jack Browne.
So I need two things answered here:
When the article says “as is standard procedure,” does that mean the ref is supposed to be in the room or not in the room? The structure of the sentence makes it sound confusing.
If he wasn’t in the room and was supposed to be, how is this guy still employed?
If Brad Allen wasn’t in the room then some kind of extra measure should have been taken by Campbell or the Lions staff to make sure he got the message about what the plan was, because he’s the guy the players were going to report to. You risk the message being distorted or forgotten if you just leave it to other officials to pass it on.
The Lions wanted on-field confusion about who was eligible and that was what they got. I think we just need to take the L on this one, Campbell and the players might think that everything necessary was done to make sure nothing went wrong procedurally, but evidently it wasn’t.
Lessons for next time but lets not go blaming the lions for a situation that the official completely botched in ever way… at some point people should be expected to be able to do their jobs if you do yours correct?
This is 100% on the official. He is the rules expert and it is his job to be crystal clear. Three Lion’s players came up to him in a dead ball situation and he doesn’t stop moving for even one second to make sure he’s clear. Instead he races over to make sure the Cowboys have the right info…which was wrong. Why? There is no clock situation to worry about. There is absolutely no reason to be hasty. IT IS HIS JOB ALONE TO MAKE SURE HE UNDERSTANDS WHAT IS GOING ON. NOT THE PLAYERS. THE LEAGUE HAS ALLEGEDLY BARRED THAT CREW FROM POSTSEASON - THIS TELLS YOU EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW. ALLAN NEEDS TO BE FIRED TOMORROW.
It’s just confusing. Why was Campbell yelling “I TOLD YOU!!!” at Allen after that play if he wasn’t in that room?
This would change the impact of Dan Campbell’s “I told you” statement.
If Allan was truly not in the room, that would explain his reaction more as ignorant than defiant. That would also explain the other officials not flagging the play.
Right. It’s “you” plural at that point, directing it to the group of officials rather than directly at Allan.
Which official threw the flag? And it doesn’t really matter if he was there or not, if Decker reported and Allen didn’t see/hear him or said the wrong number, it’s still on Allen.
Exactly. Whether he was in the room is irrelevant. It is HIS job to officiate and understand the rules. He was lazy basically.
I don’t understand why this is a ‘trick’ play. Decker obviously goes up to the ref to report.
Is it trick because Skipper jogs toward them? I get they reported Skip eligible a few times earlier but don’t think this is high deception going on
I think that this is a collective ‘you’ not individual.
Trick because they put all three OT’s in the same place to possibly confuse the defense.
There were officials on the field that were in that room when that play was explained. If Allen wasn’t one of them. why didn’t those that were in the room let him know when they huddled up that was the design of the play. Why didn’t any of them step up and say they saw Decker report.
I’m not blaming the Lions, I’m just pointing out that wasn’t an idiot proof plan, as it never got past the biggest idiot in the chain. If the execution from the Lions is better then Brad Allen can’t make the mistake that he did. You should be able to expect people to do their jobs, but the reality is that you can’t, people screw things up all the time. So yeah, it’s 99% on the officials, but 1% on the Lions for giving the officials the leeway to screw it up.
Decker could have been more forceful in making it clear that he was reporting. The Lions could have taken an extra step to make sure Brad Allen knew what the plan was beforehand, if he wasn’t in that meeting. Someone on the sideline or in the coaching booth could have realised that the play wasn’t going to be allowed to stand when the ref announced 70 as eligible to the whole stadium before the play happened.
The Lions covered most of their bases but not all of them. Most bases should have been enough, but it wasn’t. The solution is not to expect a third party to be better, but to cover more bases.
It was the pony hair lady who threw the 1st one
Well, that explains it, women 
am I right fellas? We all know they can never be wrong…
Why sending three if ref will announce only one to defense ?Is Dan over complicating ?
The refs screwed it up because they wanted to. Its purposeful incompetence, just like the illegal batting out of the endzone in Seattle.
But I’ve seen more than one lineman arount a ref when reporting as eligible before. That’s now a trick?
So Allen wasn’t just lazy on the field, he was so lazy he couldn’t even attend a meeting with Campbell. Wonder if he was able to make it over to the Dallas locker room?
Exactly. This would not have been a problem if it was Dallas converting the 2 point play. The moron blonde chick wouldn’t have been looking to throw a flag. And Allen sure as f__k would have got the number correct.
And I dont think it was ‘tricky’ at all by the Lions. Sewell has every right to stand there when Decker reports. And Skip was actually helping the ref by saying he’s not reporting (since he’s reported previously).
Pure incompetence by a referee, and compounded by the airhead blonde and Allen clinging to the idea that Decker didn’t report.
According to the NFL.
