PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – No one had ever seen anything quite like it. The officials huddled for what seemed like an eternity to discuss whether Detroit scored the game-winning touchdown or the Steelers held them short.
Eventually it was decided the Lions scored, but they committed an offensive pass interference penalty, which by rule ends the game as the Steelers win 29-24.
“I was on the goal line standing back watching everything,” said linebacker Patrick Queen. “I was watching Cam talking, their guys talking and I’m just watching it all play out and hoping they would say it was dead or something. I’m not even going to say anything about that play. It was a strange situation, crazy.”
“I don’t even think I looked at the field,” said tailback Kenneth Gainwell. “I was like, dang, I hope they don’t score. Then we got the call, OPI, and it just finished it. I was confused for a minute, but at the same time happy we got this win.”
“I was trying to read Carl’s lips and see what he was saying,” said quarterback Aaron Rodgers. “I saw him mouth ‘OPI, end of the game’. I felt pretty confident that it was going to happen.”
“We heard the whistle blow,” said captain Cam Heyward. “We asked for clarification. I thought we won.”
“Obviously the way that ended, craziest game in 13 years,” said receiver Adam Thielen.
Rodgers has been around for longer. He remembers the so-called ‘Fail Mary’ when former Steelers and then Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson threw a Hail Mary pass intended for wide receiver Golden Tate. Both Tate and the Green Bay defender got their hands on the ball. Two officials gave different indications. As Rodgers tells us, the refs, who were replacement refs, bowed to the pressure of the Seattle fans.
“I saw Goff diving for the end zone and I was like, ‘what is going on’,” said linebacker Alex Highsmith. “Obviously it’s frustrating that we let them back in the game like that, but proud of the way we bowed up at the end and got it done.”
“I’m glad that we got out of there with a victory, but it was a crazy play for sure.”
As for the view from the Lions.
“I don’t even want to get into it,” said Detroit head coach Dan Campbell. “Because it’s not going to change anything, we still lost. It’s – I mean look, you think you score, you don’t score, and then you think you’re going to have another play. Replay it or back it up, one more shot. And it doesn’t. And that’s just, I guess that’s the way it’s written in the rulebook. So that’s frustrating. But there again, it should never come to that. We had our opportunities.”
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“I knew there was a penalty,” said Lions quarterback Jared Goff. “I was hoping it was defensive, and then we either have another play, or if (Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown) Saint was down – when I saw he wasn’t down, hoping it’s defensive and we get the touchdown and win the game. It didn’t go that way, and we lost.”
“That was a wild game,” said linebacker Jack Sawyer. “The games aren’t ever over until you walk to the car in this league. That’s a perfect example. An offense as explosive as them that kind of caught fire at the end of the fourth quarter. Fortunately, we were able to make a play at the end to finish the job.”
“When we heard ball game at the end. I knew he didn’t get in,” said Joey Porter, Junior. “You dream of those moments, the fact that I got to play that, that was dope. I will be thinking about that all night.”
“It wasn’t pretty, but we got the job done.”