I felt sick. Nauseous. Disgusted. Dirty.
I had just watched NFL referees give away a game.
To my favorite team.
Did the Pittsburgh Steelers deserve to be in the Super Bowl against the Seattle Seahawks in 2005? Absolutely. Could the Steelers have won without the referees’ help? Maybe, but we’ll never truly know, just as we will never know how yesterday’s Cowboys/Lions tilt would have turned out had the refs had the guts to stick with their original call on that fateful 3rd-and-1 from the Cowboys’ 46 yardline midway through the fourth quarter with Detroit up 20-17 and going in for the kill shot.
Everyone with even semi-decent eyesight knows that pass interference was the correct call. And if you don’t believe me, a former college linebacker who played organized football for 10 years and who may or may not have committed his fair share of illegal/semi-legal moves on the gridiron, consider the opinion of the preeminent voice on sports in North Texas, Norm Hitzges, who on his show this morning on The Ticket said a flag was definitely warranted. Take all that away, and take away the fact that the Lions receiver was pretty handsy himself, and then ask yourself, “Why –– whyyyyy?!?! –– was there no penalty called against Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant for stepping onto the field of play from the sidelines with his helmet off and yelling at a ref?!”
That’s 15 yards and an automatic first down, which would have moved the ball to well within the range of Lions kicker Matt Prater. And with the way the Lions’ offense was abusing the Cowboys’ defense, you can bet a touchdown would have been right around the corner. (On a related note, Cowboys rookie guard Zack Martin, as great as he is, showed yesterday why his coronation as an all-pro is very premature. Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, an all-pro himself and perhaps the best at his position, had a whale of a game, occasionally over –– and through –– Martin.)
Alas, the refs picked up the flag after announcing the penalty and announcing the first down, which, as far as I’ve read and heard, has never happened in an NFL game before, and the Lions shanked their punt, giving the Cowboys great field position. Within minutes the Silver and Blue found the endzone for the winning 24-20 lead.
Now, don’t you feel guilty, Cowboys fans?
Don’t you feel dirty?
Don’t you feel robbed of joy, because as happy as you think you may be that your favorite NFL team won its first playoff game in, like, two decades, there’s a little part of you that knows, way down deep inside, that you were given an undeserved gift? Like a felon who wins the Lotto or a slacker who guesses his way to a B+ on a test? Don’t you feel shaaaaaame?
As peeved as I was about the call, I knew I was probably only half as peeved as the average Cheesehead. Now, instead of beating up on another NFC North punching bag, the Green Bay Packers have to face a team with something to prove. Especially after the Cowboys waltzed into CenturyLink Field earlier this season to wallop the defending-champion Seattle Seahawks and their No. 1 ranked defense, don’t be surprised to see Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, maniacally bug-eyed and with globs of ecstatic spit spraying from his slimy, slick, hagfish-like mouth, rubbing bellies enthusiastically with some other 2016 Republican presidential candidate in a luxury suite at Lambeau Field on Sunday night.
My prediction: 31-27 Cowboys.
But remember this: It’s only partially about the 22 uniformed giants on the field, isn’t it? The NFL loves a good story, and no matter how good the Cowboys-return-to-glory yarn is, it isn’t better than NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s perennial favorite tale: Look! The NFL has a franchise in some frigid, godforsaken Midwestern wasteland! And that team is pretty good! See? We’re not only about major-market franchises. (You’re welcome, drunken hayseeds. No go back to doing whatever it is you do when you’re not spending zillions of dollars on Packers tickets and merchandize.)
Good grief. There were bad calls throughout the game, and Detroit benefited from more of them. I’m sick of hearing about that one stupid play. After going up 14-0 early in the game, Detroit effectively did nothing the rest of the game. Sorry, but not sorry.
Yes, and I admit, the Lions got a lot of good calls in the first half, which just throws into vast relief my perennial complaint: that NFL officiating seems to be getting worse. For one thing, it’s incredibly inconsistent. For another, it often goes against common sense. I guess you have to be a lawyer to see the rationale in some of the rules.
This was a very important play, though, Tom and is worth multiple perspectives. It probably — probably — changed the outcome of the game.
The Lions still had their chances in that game and they lost it. They scored six points in the final three quarters. That was a terrible call, but you of all people should know those kinds of things always even out over the course of a game. Had they not made that call in the first place, no one would be talking about it. But since we are talking about it, the ball hit Hitchens in the back. Pettigrew would have had to have gone through Hitchens to catch that thing.
What I don’t get is the Martin bashing. Suh did have a good game, particularly against the run, but both of his sacks came after Tony Romo held onto the ball for seven minutes and twirled around the pocket like he was auditioning for Cats. The team’s overall lack of blitz recognition and predictable play calling on first down is what almost killed the Cowboys.
I’m just glad the NFL’s dirtiest player will be watching the games next week — and so will that rapist you root for.
It’s OK, Eric. You’re allowed to be an apologist for your team. I hope you slept well last night.
And I’m not “bashing” Martin. But no one can tell me with a straight face that he’s one of the top four guards in the NFC. That’s ridiculous. He’s just a sexy pick, and everyone knows it. Anyway, moving on …
I love how Cowboys fans always pull the higher moral ground on me because I’m a fan of a team whose quarterback was NEVER CHARGED with sexual assault, as if every Cowboys player ever was/is a saint, as if Dez Bryant never pimp-slapped his own mother. Get real.
And another thing…
The Cowboys got screwed on a bullsh PI call against T. Williams in the second quarter. So what do they do? On the very next play they go 76 yards to Williams.
The Lions feel they got hosed on a call, so what do they do? Shank a punt and whine all day.
According to Pro Football Focus game scores, Martin was the second best guard in the league.
That’s great. Let’s continue discussing one player while the REAL story is swept under the rug. I know your SCHEME.
You can’t compare calls. At all. The phantom flag was HUGE, changed the entire complexion of the game. And unprecedented in NFL history.
And give me a break. If the Cowboys had been on the business end of that phantom flag — in JerryWorld!!! — the entire stadium would have erupted in disgust, and you all would be whining just as much as Detroiters are now. If not more. Detroiters have every reason to be pissed, and Cowboys fans have every reason to feel guilty. Doesn’t matter, though. I’ve got a sinking feeling that Dallas is going to romp in Green Bay. The Cowboys have now got something to prove.
That PI against Wiliams wiped out a first down on a crucial drive. It just doesn’t seem like a high leverage situation because it was in the first half.
I’m not comparing calls as much I am comparing how each team responded to adversity. Caldwell chose to punt after that play, even though it was fourth and one, and his team was rolling in Dallas’ territory.
Dallas faces some adversity, and they respond by converting a third and twelve into a long TD pass. And Dallas converted two HUGE fourth downs. The Lions had every opportunity to take that game and they didn’t. That one questionable call (which I still maintain was probably uncatchable, though I freely admit there was contact and it was technically a penalty) isn’t what sunk the Lions. They were destined to lose.
“Anthony” is in a production booth in Detroit trolling. Probably an intern.
OMFG! If I have to hear another “Glory Days” statement about playing Community College Football careers I will surely cry Ndamukong Suh tears….Glory days, they’ll pass you buy, glory dayssss, glory dayssss…..
by not buy….did you play nose tackle at Crimpy County College?
Thanks, Neb…
No means yes, doesn’t it?
Speaking of glory days: Hey, Coast Guard! Brian Martin went AWOL in ’78!
It was the Army and it was desertion…89, Represent!
Also, who the hell is Brian Martin? My name is Neb Rapelisberger…I was named after the Scranton, Pa Sausage King of the same name.
Suh sorry (not) for the “numb footed” crush injury Lions (including Suh–“dirtiest player in the NFL”)—Karma…