Jerry Jones on ending to Lions-Cowboys: The defense is supposed to know who the eligible receivers are.
The Cowboys won on Saturday night, but the Lions lost. Jerry Jones, the general manager and owner of Dallas, is not upset about it either, as his team is just one victory away from securing the No. 2 seed.
According to Clarence E. Hill, Jr. of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Jones stated on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas on Tuesday, “I can’t believe the convoluted way that we ended up winning that game.” However, to put it this way, the defensive unit is expected to be aware of the eligibility of the receivers.Any action you do to clarify that could also clarify it for you.
That’s the perfect way to put it. While deception and trickery become fundamental parts of the game once the play begins, pre-snap shenanigans become a calculated risk. Lions coach Dan Campbell admitted on Monday that, in the machinations before the two-point conversion that decided the game, the Lions wanted to confuse the Cowboys regarding which offensive lineman would be eligible.
Three offensive lineman approached referee Brad Allen, in the hopes of confusing the Cowboys. One of them, Dan Skipper, routinely serves as the tight end in the team’s jumbo package. Skipper entered the field and ran not to the huddle but toward Allen. It was part of the ruse aimed at confusing the Cowboys. It confused Allen, too.
Jones makes a good point. The primary goal of the reporting function is to notify defenses as to whether a player wearing an eligible number is ineligible or if a player wearing an ineligible number is indeed qualified to catch a ball. Is it legal for an offense to obstruct that process on purpose? If the referee becomes perplexed while attempting to deliberately muddle that procedure, does the offensive have the right to take offense?
Skipper ran toward Allen like Skipper always does when reporting as eligible. Allen apparently assumed that Skipper was reporting as eligible. Unless Lions coach Dan Campbell claims (and he hasn’t) that he specifically reviewed that aspect of the pre-snap ruse with Allen, there was no reason for Allen to think Skipper wasn’t reporting as eligible.
Even though some have tried to Zapruder-film the interactions between Allen and tackle Taylor Decker, it was loud and it was chaotic. Skipper approached Allen in the same way Skipper would approach Allen if Skipper were reporting as eligible. Decker approached Allen with Penei Sewell standing next to him.
It was deception. It was gamesmanship. It was a shell game. The Lions tried to fuzzy it up, as Jones said. It ultimately got fuzzy for the Lions, as Jones said.
It would be nice to hear Campbell explain it that way. However, the aftermath of Saturday night’s defeat can provide his team (and its fans) with extra determination. The team believes it got screwed. The fans believe the team got screwed. There’s real power in that perception.
For football teams, some motivation comes naturally. Some motivation is fabricated. In this case, the Lions are attempting (consciously or not) to seize on the outcome of Saturday night’s game to create a natural kick in the pants that will help the Lions be better prepared to bite some kneecaps in the postseason. Especially if/when they go back to Dallas.
To be honest, it’s not all that dissimilar from what the Lions were attempting to accomplish prior to the pivotal two-point play. They intended to create confusion regarding eligibility within the Cowboys defense. They now aim to make it unclear to everyone else who is to blame for the play’s inability to succeed.
That’s okay too. It will have gone exactly as planned if it provides the squad with the extra drive they require to secure their first postseason victory since 1991.
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