During their Week 3 game against the Atlanta Falcons, the Detroit Lions were literally inches away from moving to 3-0 on the season.
Unfortunately, Golden Tate‘s go-ahead touchdown was taken off the board and following a 10-second runoff, the game was over with the Falcons prevailing 30-26.
Take a look at the video below which shows us some of the Lions players and coaches reactions when they first found out not only that the call on the field was being reversed, but that the game was over.
https://twitter.com/DetroitMoments/status/913259832551071744
BONUS CONTENT:
How the final play of the Lions controversial loss to Atlanta should have been called
When Matthew Stafford connected with Golden Tate for a touchdown late in Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Falcons, it gave the Detroit Lions a 32-30 lead with just 8 seconds left.
Until it didn’t.
Unfortunately, for the Lions and their fans, the play was reviewed and eventually overturned. The explanation was that Tate’s knee was down and he was touched while the ball was just short of the goal line. In addition, since the Lions did not have any timeouts remaining, the rule states there is an automatic 10-second runoff which must occur. That, of course, ran the final 8 seconds off the clock and the game was over with the Falcons winning 30-26.
Immediately after the call was made, everybody and their brother took to social media to voice their displeasure with the NFL and their officials. Most complained that there was not conclusive evidence that Tate’s knee was down before the ball crossed the goal line. In my opinion, Tate’s knee WAS down (shown below) before the ball crossed the goal line and the officials got that part of the call correct. In fact, they even got the 10-second runoff correct.
Check out the link below if you want to read about how the final play on the field should have been ruled.
https://detroitsportsnation.com/detroit-lions-news/ddrysdale/final-play-lions-controversial-loss-falcons-called/96080/
Why is this being called “Controversial”? It was the correct call and the rules were followed exactly as they are written. What’s the controversy?
The clock continued to count down two-three additional seconds after the referees had signaled TD. If the clock had stopped when the ruling on the field was made they would have had one second left after the ten second run-off.
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