Jerry Jones on ending to Lions-Cowboys: The defense is supposed to know who the eligible receivers are
On Saturday night, the Lions' loss was the Cowboys' gain. And Dallas owner/G.M. Jerry Jones, whose team is now one win away from clinching the No. 2 seed, is not complaining about that.
"I can't believe the convoluted way that we ended up winning that game," Jones said Tuesday on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, via Clarence E. Hill, Jr. of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "But let me put it like this: The defensive team is supposed to know who the eligible receivers are. Anything you do to fuzzy that up can get fuzzy for you."
That's the perfect way to put it. While deception and trickery become fundamental parts of the game once the play begins, pre-snap shenanigans become a calculated risk. Lions coach Dan Campbell admitted on Monday that, in the machinations before the two-point conversion that decided the game, the Lions wanted to confuse the Cowboys regarding which offensive lineman would be eligible.
Three offensive lineman approached referee Brad Allen, in the hopes of confusing the Cowboys. One of them, Dan Skipper, routinely serves as the tight end in the team's jumbo package. Skipper entered the field and ran not to the huddle but toward Allen. It was part of the ruse aimed at confusing the Cowboys. It confused Allen, too.
Jones makes a good point. The entire idea of the reporting function is to let defenses know whether a player wearing an ineligible number is actually eligible to catch a pass, and/or whether a player with an eligible number is ineligible. Is it fair game for an offense to deliberately obscure that process? Does the offense have the right to be upset if, while attempting to deliberately obscure that process, the referee becomes confused?
Skipper ran toward Allen like Skipper always does when reporting as eligible. Allen apparently assumed that Skipper was reporting as eligible. Unless Lions coach Dan Campbell claims (and he hasn't) that he specifically reviewed that aspect of the pre-snap ruse with Allen, there was no reason for Allen to think Skipper wasn't reporting as eligible.
Even though some have tried to Zapruder-film the interactionsbetween Allen and tackle Taylor Decker, it was loud and it was chaotic. Skipper approached Allen in the same way Skipper would approach Allen if Skipper were reporting as eligible. Decker approached Allen with Penei Sewell standing next to him.
It was deception. It was gamesmanship. It was a shell game. The Lions tried to fuzzy it up, as Jones said. It ultimately got fuzzy for the Lions, as Jones said.
It would be nice to hear Campbell explain it that way. However, the aftermath of Saturday night's defeat can provide his team (and its fans) with extra determination. The team believes it got screwed. The fans believe the team got screwed. There's real power in that perception.
For football teams, some motivation comes naturally. Some motivation is fabricated. In this case, the Lions are attempting (consciously or not) to seize on the outcome of Saturday night's game to create a natural kick in the pants that will help the Lions be better prepared to bite some kneecaps in the postseason. Especially if/when they go back to Dallas.
It's not that much different, frankly, than what the Lions were trying to do before the fateful two-point play. They wanted to confuse the Cowboys defense as to who was eligible. Now, they want to confuse everyone else as to who was responsible for the failure of the play to work.
And that's fine. If it gives the team the extra motivation it needs to propel them to their first playoff win since 1991, it will have worked to a "T".
