The Detroit Lions suffered a nail biting loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Saturday night coming down to the last seconds. There has been a crazy buzz in the NFL world because of the controversial ending to the game with the Lions going for the two point conversion THREE times to get the win instead of kicking the extra point to bring the game to overtime.
Head Coach Dan Campbell is in line to take home the NFL Coach of the year award and has been known to make these very risky calls with the game on the line. This was another level though, going for the two point conversion three times in a row to win the game is just a mistake in this scenario and is completely unheard of in the NFL.
While the Lions made a great play on their first two point conversion that controversially was taken away, there is no reason to go for it a second time from the 7 yard line unless you don’t have a kicker available or you desperately need the win or are playing for nothing. The lions were not in any of those circumstances as they are one of the best teams in the NFL and are playing meaningful football heading in to the post season..
Detroit Lions Lose The Game After Controversial Penalty
The Lions are still going to make the playoffs and have a chance to go far, but the question is, what was going through Dan Campbell’s mind to go for the win three times in a row instead of playing for overtime? I get going for it the first time, and that would be in line with Campbell’s aggressive play calling which has the Lions playing their best football in decades.
But after you get that ridiculous penalty call on an amazing play call that they had definitely practiced and were ready to use it in the game, how do you go for it from the 7 yard line? They got lucky with another flag called and then decided to go for the win for the third time finally not getting it with no flags on the play and taking the loss to Dallas.
Campbell was irate in his post game press conference saying:
“Would you be frustrated right now?” Campbell said afterward. “I don’t like losing, and that’s what happened. We lost, and that bothers me. I don’t like having an L, so that’s the frustration.”
I couldn’t agree with him more, but the question still remains why go for two so many times. You can’t have that many plays that you practiced for two point conversion like that and after such an amazing drive why not play for over time instead.
Quarterback Jared Goff was also in another world after the game, he was quoted in his press conference saying:
“Yeah, that sucks. It’s unfortunate, man,” Goff said. “I don’t know if I’ve had this feeling before where you feel like you’ve won and you didn’t. With that being said, though, the next two plays we had shots at it.”
While the Lions have all there most meaningful games ahead of them now they locked up their division, we will see how they bounce back from such a weird game going into the post season.
So AFTER the Lions celebrated the two point conversion. The refs huddled up and then threw the flag?!?! Minus being a playoff game this is the Petigrew game all over again. Unbelievable. https://t.co/zm5b4FhzJk
— Khang Collects (@KhangCollects) December 31, 2023
