Dan Skipper contradicts NFL video: I was signaling in personnel, not reporting as eligible

The NFL sent a teaching video to teams Tuesday intimating Dan Skipper reported as an eligible receiver when he entered the game for a disputed two-point play late in Saturday's loss to the Dallas Cowboys, but the Detroit Lions swing tackle said Wednesday he simply was signaling a change in the team's offensive personnel.

"So personnel, you signal in," Skipper told a small group of reporters. "I wasn’t like this (wiping my numbers). I was not doing that. I was doing this (holding one arm up and another by my stomach, with two fingers out), signaling 12 jumbo. Everyone who’s played at this level, I’m sure all you guys know that you signal in personnel."

The NFL video, which accompanied a memo to teams clarifying the reporting process, included two plays in which Skipper checked into last week's game as a sixth lineman.

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On the first, on a second-and-3 play early in the first quarter, Skipper ran onto the field with his left arm held above his head and his right arm in front of his stomach. He flipped the position of his hands as he made his way towards the huddle and reported directly to referee Brad Allen.

On the second, for the Lions' first of three 2-point attempts after the team pulled within one point with 23 seconds to play, Skipper made a similar signal as he ran onto the field in Allen's direction. Left tackle Taylor Decker wiped at his numbers, the universal signal to report as eligible, as he approached Allen from a different direction, while Allen's vision appeared to be trained on Skipper.

Skipper met Decker and right tackle Penei Sewell a few yards from the Lions' huddle as Allen went to alert the Cowboys that Skipper was an eligible receiver.

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Decker was supposed to be the eligible receiver on the play, and caught the go-ahead 2-point pass from Jared Goff that was nullified by an illegal touching penalty.

"Typically you have to go up to the official and very (directly tell him you are reporting)," Skipper said. "You can watch it all year. You can watch the first quarter, Play 4, and granted I only did it once during the game this week, so the multiple times throughout the game, also not true, but we’ll leave that there. But when you walk up you say, ‘Sir, I am reporting as eligible.’"

Allen, in a pool report after the game, said Skipper, "who had reported during the game a couple of times, reported to me as eligible."

"It’s not like 5 yard, take a left turn thing," Skipper said of the reporting process. "I’ve gotten that penalty before, y’all can find that one. That was a similar situation where you’re reporting and don’t (tell the referee), 'I am reporting as eligible.' That’s how it is, that’s how it goes. Y’all can watch it all season. It’s clear as (expletive). You walk up."

Lions coach Dan Campbell insisted Wednesday he had not seen the NFL video and offered no reaction to its release.

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Skipper said he's thankful for billboards that have sprung up in metro Detroit declaring, "Decker reported." He said he's heard from plenty of "keyboard warriors" on social media critical of his role in the play.

"There’s a good thing there’s a delete button on Twitter," he said. "The city of Detroit’s been great. Driving into work was fun. I don’t know who paid for all that but it’s good to see."

And he said he's ready to move on to Sunday's game against the Minnesota Vikings.

"I mean, (expletive), you can’t sit here and wallow in the past," he said. "It's been 30 contracts. Like if it was egregious I would have got my ass cut. You screw up egregiously enough, you get fired. So for me not to get fired, it wasn’t that bad on my end so let’s move along."

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

Next up: Vikings

Matchup: Lions (11-5) vs. Minnesota (8-8), regular-season finale.

Kickoff: 1 p.m. Sunday; Ford Field, Detroit.

TV/radio: Fox; WXYT-FM (97.1).

Line: Lions by 3.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions OL Dan Skipper: I was signaling personnel on NFL video