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By Kalyn Kahler and Colton Pouncy
The NFL’s officiating department sent a video to all 32 teams to clarify the reporting a change of position rule on Tuesday afternoon. A club source provided the video to The Athletic.
The video, narrated by senior vice president of officiating training and development Walt Anderson, explained the rule with clips that showed two different angles of the moments before the Detroit Lions’ two-point conversion attempt Saturday night. The two-point conversion, caught by Lions left tackle Taylor Decker, seemed to give Detroit a 21-20 lead over the Dallas Cowboys with 23 seconds remaining. But referee Brad Allen waved it off, calling it an illegal touch pass, and the Cowboys eventually won 20-19.
On Dec. 20, the NFL’s officiating department informed clubs via email that the training tape sent that day regarding Week 15’s games would be the last for the 2023 season. Usually the weekly tapes the NFL sends to clubs throughout the season feature several points of emphasis and multiple teams and scenarios, but the controversy in Dallas was apparently important enough to warrant its own training tape.
“As a reminder to clubs and players, an offensive player numbered 50 through 79 or 90 through 99 is permitted to line up as an eligible pass receiver to allow the defense an opportunity to match personnel to avoid deception and to ensure fairness, the player must immediately report the change in his eligibility status to the referee who will inform the defensive team and will make an announcement to the stadium before that play,” Anderson said.
The video opened with the clip of the seconds before the Lions first quarter play where offensive tackle Dan Skipper reported as eligible. It highlighted Skipper in a yellow circle as he ran onto the field with his left arm raised and his right arm near his chest. The video then cut to a clip of the seconds before the two-point conversion attempt in the fourth quarter. It again highlighted Skipper in yellow as he ran onto the field looking very similar to the first quarter play, with his left arm raised and his right arm near his chest.
“It is the responsibility of the player to be sure that change in status is clearly communicated to the referee by both a physical signal with his hands up and down in front of his chest and to report to the referee his intention to report as an eligible receiver,” Anderson said in the video.
Anderson then reminds teams that a player reporting as eligible must line up in an eligible position, just as the video showed Skipper lined up in a covered position on the line, which would make him ineligible. A yellow arrow pointed to Penei Sewell and Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, who were both on the right side of Skipper on the line of scrimmage.
“Failure to do so or if he is covered up by another player will result in an illegal formation,” Anderson said.
The video has added to the confusion surrounding this rule and this play. The video reminded teams that players need to both physically and verbally report as eligible. Decker said postgame that he verbally reported and the league’s own video shows he physically reported as well. The video shows Skipper physically gesturing, but he said postgame that he didn’t say anything to the referee.
Allen said postgame that Skipper was the Lions offensive lineman who reported as eligible, and in this video, Anderson doubled down on that logic. Therefore, the Lions formation was illegal because Skipper was covered on the line.
The league’s purpose in sending out this video is a clear defense of Allen. In the video, Anderson did not recognize that Decker reported as eligible, despite the fact that one frame of the pre-snap clip clearly showed Decker making the gesture.
“I did exactly what Coach told me to do,” Decker said Saturday. “I went to the ref, said ‘report’ and, uh, yeah.”
The video said a player needs to both physically signal and verbally report. Looks like the Lions had two players show the sign and walk up to the ref but only Decker verbally reported according to the Lions.
“This process has been in place for many years and is intended to provide proper notification to the defense when players are lined up in positions that their number would not allow,” Anderson said.
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Simply put, the Lions screwed this up themselves in multiple ways.
So everyone whining about the Lions getting screwed can now sit down and STFU.
The NFL’s officiating department sent a video to all 32 teams to clarify the reporting a change of position rule on Tuesday afternoon. A club source provided the video to The Athletic.
The video, narrated by senior vice president of officiating training and development Walt Anderson, explained the rule with clips that showed two different angles of the moments before the Detroit Lions’ two-point conversion attempt Saturday night. The two-point conversion, caught by Lions left tackle Taylor Decker, seemed to give Detroit a 21-20 lead over the Dallas Cowboys with 23 seconds remaining. But referee Brad Allen waved it off, calling it an illegal touch pass, and the Cowboys eventually won 20-19.
On Dec. 20, the NFL’s officiating department informed clubs via email that the training tape sent that day regarding Week 15’s games would be the last for the 2023 season. Usually the weekly tapes the NFL sends to clubs throughout the season feature several points of emphasis and multiple teams and scenarios, but the controversy in Dallas was apparently important enough to warrant its own training tape.
“As a reminder to clubs and players, an offensive player numbered 50 through 79 or 90 through 99 is permitted to line up as an eligible pass receiver to allow the defense an opportunity to match personnel to avoid deception and to ensure fairness, the player must immediately report the change in his eligibility status to the referee who will inform the defensive team and will make an announcement to the stadium before that play,” Anderson said.
The video opened with the clip of the seconds before the Lions first quarter play where offensive tackle Dan Skipper reported as eligible. It highlighted Skipper in a yellow circle as he ran onto the field with his left arm raised and his right arm near his chest. The video then cut to a clip of the seconds before the two-point conversion attempt in the fourth quarter. It again highlighted Skipper in yellow as he ran onto the field looking very similar to the first quarter play, with his left arm raised and his right arm near his chest.
“It is the responsibility of the player to be sure that change in status is clearly communicated to the referee by both a physical signal with his hands up and down in front of his chest and to report to the referee his intention to report as an eligible receiver,” Anderson said in the video.
Anderson then reminds teams that a player reporting as eligible must line up in an eligible position, just as the video showed Skipper lined up in a covered position on the line, which would make him ineligible. A yellow arrow pointed to Penei Sewell and Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, who were both on the right side of Skipper on the line of scrimmage.
“Failure to do so or if he is covered up by another player will result in an illegal formation,” Anderson said.
The video has added to the confusion surrounding this rule and this play. The video reminded teams that players need to both physically and verbally report as eligible. Decker said postgame that he verbally reported and the league’s own video shows he physically reported as well. The video shows Skipper physically gesturing, but he said postgame that he didn’t say anything to the referee.
Allen said postgame that Skipper was the Lions offensive lineman who reported as eligible, and in this video, Anderson doubled down on that logic. Therefore, the Lions formation was illegal because Skipper was covered on the line.
The league’s purpose in sending out this video is a clear defense of Allen. In the video, Anderson did not recognize that Decker reported as eligible, despite the fact that one frame of the pre-snap clip clearly showed Decker making the gesture.
“I did exactly what Coach told me to do,” Decker said Saturday. “I went to the ref, said ‘report’ and, uh, yeah.”
The video said a player needs to both physically signal and verbally report. Looks like the Lions had two players show the sign and walk up to the ref but only Decker verbally reported according to the Lions.
“This process has been in place for many years and is intended to provide proper notification to the defense when players are lined up in positions that their number would not allow,” Anderson said.
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Simply put, the Lions screwed this up themselves in multiple ways.
So everyone whining about the Lions getting screwed can now sit down and STFU.
