If you watched live, you may not have noticed that on the final play of the game, there was a blatant pass interference by a Kansas City Chiefs DB on Detroit Lions WR Marvin Jones Jr. that was ignored by the officials.
According to a report from Pro Football Talk, the NFL had a chance to review the Hail Mary play but they opted not to do so, ending the game with the Chiefs leading 34-30.
There was possible pass interference on the Hail Mary at the end of Lions-Chiefs; the league office opted against a full-blown replay review https://t.co/mzrCGmMj6s
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) September 29, 2019
From Pro Footballs Talk:
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, NFL senior V.P. of officiating Al Riveron looked at the play but decided not to conduct a full-blown replay review.
Riveron previously explained in an appearance on the #PFTPM podcast that replay review in Hail Mary situations will entail the same relaxed standard that applies on the field when a team launches a wing and a prayer.
“For the most part, everyone understands what’s allowed, what’s not allowed on a Hail Mary,” Riveron said regarding an unofficial exception to pass interference that appears nowhere in the rulebook. “It’s probably fortunate that we’re not putting this play into a box because it’s something when we see it, and when I say ‘we’ I mean the football community from fans to coaches to players to officials, we’ll all agree that that’s a Hail Mary and we’ll understand what’s allowable and what’s not.”
Some would say that an apparent shove to the ground of a receiver who may have had a shot at making the catch would justify at least a closer look at whether the shove happened deliberately or incidentally.
If the play had been reviewed and overturned, the officials would have had to bring both teams out of the locker room for an untimed down from inside the Kansas City five yard line.
It sure sounds like the Lions got screwed!
