Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

NFL admits refs missed Cowboys holding Suh on crucial play

suh

The infamous pass interference pickup wasn’t the only missed call that went against the Lions in Sunday’s loss to the Cowboys.

The NFL has also admitted that the crucial fourth-and-6 conversion the Cowboys picked up on the way toward their game-winning touchdown was aided by an uncalled holding infraction. According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, the NFL admitted to the Lions today that Ndamukong Suh was held on the play, on which Tony Romo completed a 21-yard pass to Jason Witten.

If the holding had been called, the Cowboys would have faced fourth-and-16 from their own side of the field and surely would have punted. Instead, the completion gave the Cowboys first-and-10 at the Lions’ 21-yard line, and they went on to score the go-ahead touchdown with 2:32 left in the fourth quarter.

Lions fans have used social media over the last 48 hours to point to several plays when Cowboys’ offensive linemen weren’t flagged while holding Lions’ defensive linemen. It’s not clear whether the Lions have complained to the league office about all of those plays, but this particular play was a huge one, and one on which the league office agrees with the Lions that a hold should have been called.

At this point, it’s hard for the Lions not to think that they were ripped off by the officials on Sunday. NFL officiating isn’t corrupt, but it can be incompetent, and on Sunday that incompetence may have ended the Lions’ season and moved the Cowboys ahead in the playoffs.