Like the 2014 playoffs all over again, the Lions appear to have been robbed of a win by an officiating blunder in Dallas.
It looked like the Lions had taken a late lead over the Cowboys on Saturday night when left tackle Taylor Decker caught a go-ahead two-point conversion pass with 23 seconds to play.
The officials erased it on the grounds of illegal touching, ruling that Decker had never reported as an eligible receiver -- except replays showed Decker clearly engaging with an official before the snap to do exactly that.
"I did exactly what coach told me to do," Decker said after the Lions' 20-19 loss. "I went to the ref, said I report. Yeah, I don't know."
According to the officials, extra offensive lineman Dan Skipper had reported as eligible and more than one lineman can't report as eligible on the same play -- except replays showed Skipper shouting at the officials "I never said a word!" after they had reversed the call. Skipper confirmed as much after the game.
Handed a piece of paper at the podium, Dan Campbell said the officials' explanation was that "70 (Skipper) reported and two people can't report." He then crumpled up the explanation in disgust.
"I explain everything (to the officials) pregame to a T. I did that. '70 reported. 68 (Decker) didn't. We thew it to 68,' that was the explanation," Campbell said.
Jared Goff put it most simply, saying, "I do know that Decker reported, I do know that Dan Skipper did not and I do know that they (the officials) said that Dan Skipper did."
Decker reiterated that he "did what I was told to do, did it how we did it in practice all week, and that’s all I’m really going to touch on with that. There’s not much more I can add to it. You can see the video of it."
But the evidence won't change the reality, which is another controversial loss for the Lions in Dallas.