In Tampa Bay territory with no timeouts late in the first half last Sunday, the Lions botched a situation where a spike to stop the clock would have set up a makeable field goal for Jake Bates. There was a communication breakdown, where the field goal rushed onto the field and led to a too-many men on the field penalty.
Head coach Dan Campbell took full ownership of the mistake. coming out for the second half and after the game.
"Their head coach cost them. Critical error at the end of the half 100 percent on me. . . . There was no way to justify this. It’s a massive error on my part and no one else’s. It was just between hurry-up field goal and clocking it and it was 100 percent my fault.”
The too-many men on the field penalty brought a 10-second runoff, and the half was over.
The tv broadcast never showed the play from the fully proper angle, but the All-22 captured it.
The all-22 of the Lions’ spike play/(way) too many men on the field penalty pic.twitter.com/RZ9VkoE0rJ
— Dave Birkett (@davebirkett) September 16, 2024
Missing the opportunity for a field goal there changed the complexion of the Lions' final drives of the game in the 20-16 loss. They needed a touchdown to win, when only a field goal would have been needed if they had gotten that three points at the end of the first half. So that's why Campbell took all the blame, because the miscommunication in that situation ultimately falls on him and it was ultimately very costly.
Lions special teams coach Dave Fipp had his usual weekly session with the media on Thursday. He was eventually asked about the mistake at the end of the half last Sunday, and took his share of the blame.
"Situations like that, there’s a lot that go into it,” Fipp said. “They’re all critical, they come at critical moments in the game, that one certainly was for us, and the only thing I will say is any time I’m a part of something. I definitely feel a responsibility for not getting the job done so I take a lot of the responsibility for that also. I know for a fact there’s a lot of things that I could have done different and would do different if I could do it again today, so I feel like I need to take my share of the ownership and responsibility also, certainly.”
Asked if he is the one who normally sends the kicking unit on the field, Fipp seemed to (understandably) be done talking about last Sunday's situation.
"I won’t get into all of that, but it kind of depends on the situation,” Fipp said.