What a mess of an ending. The Detroit Lions' game against the Dallas Cowboys was a solid, hard-fought game between two top contenders in the NFC. So, of course, it had to be ruined by a bad referee call. After a touchdown to close the gap 20-19, the Lions decided to be bold and go for two. Wanting to go for the kill, Detroit devised a devious plan to get the two points.

The problem? The plan might've been a little too confusing to an individual. The Lions ran a trick play that saw OL Taylor Decker spring free for a two-point TD. However, the referee called the play back due to an illegal formation. According to referee Brad Allen, Decker never announced he was an eligible receiver. The Lions are adamant that Decker declared himself eligible to the referee. This video of the huddle seems to reinforce this, with Jared Goff telling Decker to go to the referee.

Woof. The whole point of the penalty was that Decker was not in the proper “blocking” formation, and that he also was not supposed to be able to catch a downfield pass. All of those penalties would be negated, though, if the Lions OL did declare himself eligible to the referee. It seems like in a play to misdirect the Cowboys, the Lions ended up confusing the referee.

Allen maintained after the game that it was another Lions lineman, Dan Skipper, that declared himself eligible. However, this footage clearly shows that the referee confused the two. Decker went up to Allen (seemingly to call himself eligible), and was acknowledged by the referee. We'll see over the next days what the Lions decide to do and whether they want to appeal this call.