I'm going to have to say no and award that game winning drive to the Refs.
If we accept that, you still gotta score the game Cowboys-17, Refs-14, Lions-13. That 99 yard TD drive had more ref aid than the cowboys last score.
Jerrah has had the refs in his pocket for years.
Lemme get this straight. Jerry has been paying off the refs for years, but for the last 20 years he's been telling them to fuck the cowboys and keep them at 8-8 in order to allay suspicion? I just wanna be clear that's what you are suggesting. Impressive that you were able to see through the ruse!
Even with the bad PI call (only thing I can think of is that the pass was deemed uncatchable, it hit Hitchens in the middle of his back) Caldwell has to go for it on that 4th and 1 instead of trying to draw them offside.
Yeah, I think this is why it was picked up. Can't believe the announcers didn't pick up on that. It was a shitty pass. If it had been that far over his head they would have seen it. I couldn't remember where it hit the cowboy, I was thinking it was more like his ass. Maybe it was at the bottom of his numbers. At any rate, if the cowboy hadn't been there at all, I don't think the receiver could have physically changed direction fast enough to catch that thing. It looked like the ball must have died because he reacted way too late to the underthrow and didn't even make an honest attempt to get it.
At worst, that play should have been offsetting penalties for holding and hands to the face.
He made contact before the ball was even there as well, if the flag isn't picked up it's a first down in Dallas territory. How can you even attempt to play that off as not a huge deal?
Also, name me how many times you've seen a penalty called like that, a couple players go bitch about it and then officials go "oh okay, let me go pick that shit up then"? It was ridiculous.
What looked like PI was caused by the WR yanking the defender's facemask.
I am amazed so many of you are acting like this never happens. Do you guys watch football all year, or only at playoff time? Flags get picked up all the time. In addition, I can recall 2 or 3 other times when the penalty was announced, marked off and then the flag picked up after a confab. The only argument you have here it usually gets picked up pretty quick for something as routine as PI. I think the only reason this one was announced before it was picked up was that the ref was too quick to make the announcement. Chalk it up to the crews not working together.
One last thing on the officiating. I don't mind if the officials wanna call the game loose or tight or differently from other crews at other games. All I expect is consistency in the game. If it's holding on one series, it should be holding on every series. Seemed almost like the refs were playing a checkoff game.
Call roughing the kicker in a playoff game - Check
Pick up a flag in a playoff game - Check
Call offensive PI in a playoff game - Check
Go an entire playoff game without calling a defensive PI - Check (at least, I think they got to check this box)
Enrage fans of both teams in a playoff game - Check