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Controversy From Cowboys-Lions Playoff Game Will Haunt NFL

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Matthew Emmons -- USA TODAY Sports

Matthew Emmons — USA TODAY Sports

Roger Goodell has spent all season dodging all sorts of controversy ranging from domestic assault to child abuse, and he has emerged from this with a suit of armor that is battered yet intact. Now comes the latest controversy, one which the NFL might spend the next several weeks — if not years — trying to overcome.

Full disclosure: I live in the heart of Detroit Lions country. However, I am not approaching this as a fan, but rather as a casual observer. I would say this even if I lived in Billings, Montana. The league will spend a lot of time explaining how the Dallas Cowboys had 17 players on the field in the fourth quarter while the Lions fielded a squad of 11.

Who were the extra six men? The supposedly unbiased officials, who pulled off one of the most egregious examples of favoritism I have seen in years.

Anyone across the country who watched the Lions-Cowboys game could tell Anthony Hitchens didn’t turn around to battle for the ball. He got tangled up with Brandon Pettigrew, drawing a pass interference call that was later picked up by referee Pete Morelli and his officiating crew. Say what?

Morelli, via a pool report issued by Detroit News writer Josh Katzenstein, said the back judge threw the flag for defensive pass interference, but the head linesman thought Hitchens was face-guarding, which is not a penalty in pro football (it is in college). If that was face guarding, then my name is Chris Hemsworth and I am People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive.

The controversy theories will abound. There are those that will claim FOX wanted the Cowboys to win and manipulated the outcome. Considering there are federal laws on the books against tampering with the outcome of a game in this nature, I don’t think a whole sports network would go to this length to ensure big Nielsen ratings.

However, it might be time to look at this officiating crew and ask some hard questions. Why was a flag picked up so late after Morelli announced the call on the field? Even Joe Buck and Troy Aikman were puzzled at that call, and former vice president of officiating Mike Pereira flat out said the crew got the call wrong.

Goodell needs to take a look at what happened here. A call like this is controversial enough in a regular season game, but when it comes in a playoff game with one team’s season on the line, feelings like this can linger and fester for years to come. That fourth quarter was not the officials’ best moment. When Hitchens was called for pass interference, Dez Bryant ran onto the field to protest. That should have been 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct. Instead, it was ignored.

I don’t want to take away entirely from the Cowboys’ fourth-quarter comeback. Dallas already had some momentum before its game-winning drive started, but there is no doubt the men in stripes did their best to keep the momentum going. It’s just very hard to win a game when six extra players on one side help determine the outcome. It’s almost like letting 10 players on a team go up against five on a basketball court.

A game like this shouldn’t be determined by one call. Instead, the teams should decide who wins, not the head linesman, and not Morelli. Shame on you, NFL — this black eye may not go away for a while.

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