The Detroit Lions have found themselves in the middle of a refereeing controversy for yet another week of NFL action. Against the Los Angeles Rams, the Lions had managed to seemingly get a stop against tight end Colby Parkinson at the one yard line. His knee was down while he retained possession of the football.
Apparently, though, we don't actually know the various definitions of what makes a touchdown. The referees on the ground reviewed the catch and ruled that it was a touchdown, befuddling not only the FOX Sports booth calling the game, but Dean Blandino, FOX's resident rules expert.
He came up with the theory that, perhaps, because the ball bounced back into possession of Parkinson's while he was in the end zone, it was a touchdown. But, that's simply a theory, and not at all what we saw on multiple camera angles.
Ultimately, it should not have come down to this moment for Detroit. Their third quarter woes might've been defined by this moment, but it shouldn't have dictated the entire rest of the contest or the Lions' offense.
Lions screwed by refs (but game shouldn't have come down to this)
Detroit managed to post negative yardage in the 3rd quarter, while Los Angeles posted 179. It's always going to be difficult to climb back into a contest in the 4th quarter after posting a performance like that in a critical time of the game.
The Rams' defense also completely came alive in the second half after a poor start to the contest, barely allowing Detroit to get anything off in their run game.
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The one touchdown that really wasn't a touchdown could've made the difference in this game...but so could have the play-calling from head coach Dan Campbell that involved multiple screens set for Jahmyr Gibbs for barely any yardage, in addition to the questionable use of their final timeout that lost them about six seconds worth of playclock to work with in the 4th quarter.
This was, across the board, a sloppy end to what looked like it could be a shootout between the Rams and Lions, a potential postseason matchup (if we're lucky). Now, the Lions have to hope they win out for the rest of this season while the Chicago Bears lose at least one of their upcoming contests against the San Francisco 49ers or Green Bay Packers.