Decker Reported

Decker Reported refers to a controversial call made near the end of a 2023 regular season game between the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys. The game was broadcast nationally on a special edition of Monday Night Football on December 30, 2023.

Decker Reported

Detroit Lions (NFC North) (11–5) Dallas Cowboys (NFC East) (11–5) 19 20 Head coach: Dan Campbell Head coach: Mike McCarthy
1 2 3 4 Total DET 3 0 7 9 19 DAL 7 0 3 10 20
Date	December 30, 2023
Kickoff time	7:15 p.m. CST
Stadium	AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas
Referee	Brad Allen
Attendance	93,731
TV in the United States
Network	ABC/ESPN/ESPN2/ESPN+
Announcers	Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, and Lisa Salters

Late in the fourth quarter, the Lions were down by seven points. After regaining possession of the football with 1:41 left to play in regulation, they drove down the field and scored a touchdown with 23 seconds to go. This left the Lions trailing by one point. To avoid going into overtime, Lions head coach Dan Campbell made the decision to attempt a two-point conversion, which was a successful trick play where quarterback Jared Goff completed a pass to offensive tackle Taylor Decker in the end zone. After the play, however, a flag was thrown on the field, with Deceker being penalized by referee Brad Allen for illegal touching by an ineligible receiver. The labeling of Decker as an ineligible receiver generated controversy as the call stood in contradiction to the testimony of Decker, other Lions players, and footage captured by ESPN cameras showing Decker approaching Allen, even standing immediately in front of him, presumably to report as an eligible receiver.

After two additional two-point conversion attempts were unsuccessful, the Lions still trailed the Cowboys by one point. A failed onside kick by the Lions secured a 20–19 victory for the Cowboys.

Background

During Week 17 of the 2023 NFL season, the Detroit Lions were scheduled to visit the Dallas Cowboys on December 30, 2023, for a special edition of Monday Night Football. The game coincided with a halftime ceremony where former Cowboys head coach Jimmy Johnson was inducted into the Dallas Cowboys Ring of Honor.

Both teams entered the matchup with identical 11–5 records. In the previous week, a victory against the rival Minnesota Vikings led to the Lions winning their first division title in 30 years, and winning the NFC North for the first time ever, as the divisions were realigned for the 2002 NFL season. The Cowboys were still in contention to clinch a title in their division, the NFC East, although they have secured their spot in the playoffs after Week 15. Both teams were still competing with each other, and other teams, for the No. 1 seed in the National Football Conference (NFC), which would have guaranteed both a bye week for the Wild Card Round of playoffs, and home-field advantage up to the conference championship game. Entering the matchup, the moneyline was favoring the Cowboys to win by a margin of 4.5 or more points.

Game summary

First half

The Cowboys won the coin toss and elected to defer their choice to the second half, leading to the Lions receiving the kickoff and initial possession of the game. On their first drive, The Lions were stopped short of the end zone, and kicker Michael Badgley succeeded in kicking a 41-yard field goal to score the first points of the game. The first drive of the game for the Cowboys went for six plays before quarterback Dak Prescott, while intending to throw a pass to wide receiver CeeDee Lamb, was intercepted by Lions safety Ifeatu Melifonwu. The Lions were unsuccessful in converting the interception to points, and after five plays, with the last one ending in quarterback Jared Goff being sacked by Dorance Armstrong. On their second possession, the Cowboys were able to score the first touchdown of the game after Prescott threw a 92-yard pass to Lamb. After the touchdown, Detroit and Dallas have trade punts, and the second quarter begins with Dallas punting the ball back to Detroit while up 7–3. On the Lions' first drive of the second quarter, Goff threw a pass that was intercepted by Jourdan Lewis. The subsequent possession by the Cowboys ended when Kindle Vildor forced Lamb to fumble the ball in the end zone, which by resulted in a touchback. The Lions drove the football down to the Cowboys' 4-yard line, but was unable to score a touchdown, and the ball ended up being turned over on downs. Dallas and Detroit trade punts again, and Dallas ended up with the final possession of the first half. The half ended with Prescott being sacked by Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson. The scoreless second quarter ends with Dallas still up 7–3.

Second half

After deferring for the first half, Dallas gained the first possession of the third quarter, but was unable to score on the first drive and punted the ball. Detroit managed to score the first points of the second half, after a 3-yard touchdown pass from Goff to David Montgomery. After a successful extra point kick, Detroit took a 10–7 lead. The lead was short lived, however, as Dallas tied the game with a successful 51-yard field goal by Brandon Aubrey. Detroit, now in the fourth quarter, responded in kind, with Michael Badgely kicking a 30-yard field goal to reestablish a three-point lead. Dallas ended up taking a slightly more decisive four-point lead in the drive immediately after, with an 8-yard touchdown pass to Brandin Cooks, and a good extra point field goal. Detroit was unable to answer in their next drive, and punted the ball back to Dallas. Dallas, also unable to get into a scoring situation, punted the ball back to Detroit, after Detroit calls their first timeout of the half. With 2:33 remaining in regulation, Detroit attempted to drive down the field. However, on the second play of the drive, Goff threw his third and final interception of the game, to Dallas safety Donovan Wilson.

Final two minutes

Detroit's defense was successful in preventing Dallas from scoring a touchdown off of the interception. However, Dallas was still able to kick a field goal, their final points of the game increasing the lead to seven points, 13–20. Further complicating the situation, Detroit was forced into using their remaining two timeouts during Dallas's final drive to ensure they had enough time left to drive the ball down the field themselves. Aubrey's kickoff landed outside the back of Detroit's endzone, resulting in a touchback.

Detroit's final drive

Detroit started their final possession of the game on their own 25-yard line, with no remaining timeouts, and 1:41 left in regulation. For the first play, Goff completed a 10-yard pass to tight end Sam LaPorta. Next, Goff completed another pass to LaPorta, this time for 25 yards. However, this time, LaPorta went down in bounds. To stop the clock, Goff took the snap and intentionally spiked the ball into the ground to stop the clock. Now in Dallas territory, Goff completed a third pass, this time to wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, for 14 yards. This play also resulted in Goff being forced to spike the ball. Now, from the Dallas 26-yard line, Goff threw an incomplete pass intended for St. Brown. On third down, Goff threw a completion to LaPorta, for 15 yards, who again, goes went down in bounds. Goff spiked the ball again, leaving 27 seconds on the clock. From the Dallas 11-yard line, Goff threw a touchdown pass to St. Brown scoring a touchdown and bringing Detroit close to the lead at 20–19 with 23 seconds remaining in regulation.

Final scoring attempt

Two-point attempt

As with any successful touchdown, the Lions had the opportunity to kick an extra point field goal or attempt a two-point conversion. Choosing the latter, they successfully completed the conversion when offensive lineman Taylor Decker caught a pass in the end zone.

Controversial penalty

The immediate reactions on the field and within the broadcast booth recognize that the pass had been completed and the two-point conversion had been successful. However, flags were thrown on the field and the Lions were given two penalties. The first penalty, which was enforced, was illegal touching of a forward pass. The second penalty was for an illegal formation.

In American football, not all players on offense are allowed to catch a forward pass. By rule, offensive linemen that line up on the line of scrimmage prior to the snap are ineligible receivers. However, if a player that would typically be ineligible reports to a referee that they are an eligible receiver for that upcoming snap, and lines up in position to be an eligible receiver, than that normally ineligible player would be allowed to catch a forward pass. This is known as "reporting as eligible", or simply "reporting in". The assertion being made with the penalties called on Detroit was that Decker had not reported to the referee as an eligible receiver. However, this is contradicted by video taken before the play, showing Decker and Sewell standing next to the referee. It is common for teams that are running a play requiring a player to declare as eligible that multiple players, with similar numbers, approach the referee. This is done to create confusion for the other team, as player numbers reporting as eligible are announced over a loudspeaker.

In this specific instance, Taylor Decker, number 68, and left tackle Penei Sewell, number 58, both approached the referee, but Decker was the only one seen to report. What further caused confusion is that referee Brad Allen said in the pool report that Dan Skipper, number 70, had reported as eligible. This recollection of events is inconsistent with the video evidence shown in the replay, where Allen is seen to be walking away from Decker and Sewell, while Skipper was spotted in the video being a few yards away.

Subsequent attempts

Two further attempts at a two-point conversion were made by Detroit. In the second attempt, from the seven-yard line due to the previous penalty, a pass intended for St. Brown was intercepted. However, this interception was also called back, as Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons was penalized for being offside. In the third an final attempt, from the three-yard line, a pass to tight end James Mitchell fell incomplete. After the two further attempts at a conversion failed, Detroit attempted, but failed, to perform an onside kick to retain possession. Cowboys Quarterback Dak Prescott, with only 21 seconds left, and no timeouts Detroit could use, knelled to end the game.

Aftermath

Team reactions

Detroit Lions

In the immediate aftermath of the game, Lions players and coaches were hesitant to publicly decry the penalty, as publicly criticizing game officials is punishable by a fine. However, in postgame interviews, Decker maintained that he did report as an eligible receiver. Lions quarterback Jared Goff, threading the needle in a postgame interview said "What I do know, and I don't know if I'll get fined for this, but I do know that Decker reported and I know that Dan Skipper did not, and I do know they said that Dan Skipper did." Lions head coach Dan Campbell also stated that Decker reported as an eligible receiver prior to the first two-point attempt, and that he specifically discussed this type of play being done in a pregame meeting with game officials, but stopped short of criticizing the game officials.

Before the Week 18 game, the Lions social media accounts posted a video of Decker entering the facilities at Ford Field, tagging him and saying he is "Reporting for duty". Decker replied to the video, jokingly saying that was not him, to which the accounts replied with the "correct" video showing Dan Skipper entering Ford Field.

Dallas Cowboys

After the game, Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy stated that he was told 70 was the player who reported as eligible. Cornerback Jourdan Lewis seemed to agree with the call made during the two-point attempt, saying that "It was ineligible receiver, so somebody didn't report eligible".

League reactions

In the immediate aftermath of the controversial penalty, the NFL quietly stood behind the call made by Allen, and on the Tuesday after the game, sent a video memo to all team coaches and general managers discussing how to properly report as an eligible receiver. The video only used clips from the Lions-Cowboys game, including the newly infamous reporting incident. Some have interpreted this as the NFL implying that Detroit was not the victim of poor officiating. Furthermore, the NFL assigned Allen's officiating crew to another nationally broadcast game for Week 18. However, there was a punishment eventually handed down. The punishment for this controversial call, and other poor performances, was that the NFL downgraded the rating for Brad Allen and his officiating crew and were out of the pool of officiating crews for that season's postseason games.

Media reactions

Many in the media publicly chastised Allen for the call, and further criticized the poor officiating of the NFL. In a postgame broadcast, Troy Aikman, who commentated over the game elaborated on how he saw in the video captured by cameras, that Decker was the one to approach the referee and report as eligible. Further discussions on social media from sports commentators shows anger at the referees and sympathy for Detroit. In the Metro Detroit area, a disgruntled anonymous fan rented billboards protesting the penalty, with one billboard reading "Decker Reported" and another showing 11–5 crossed out and 12–4 shown in handwriting next to it.

Playoff implications

As a result of the Lions' loss, the San Francisco 49ers had a much easier path to clinch the No. 1 seed in the NFC, and were able to do so after they won a game against the Washington Commanders the next day. Additionally, had the Lions won, the worst possible seeding they would have received would have been No. 2 seed. Furthermore, had both the Lions won and the 49ers lost their respective Week 18 matchups, the former would have clinched the No. 1 seed in the NFC, guaranteeing home field advantage for the Divisional Round and NFC Championship Game. However, because the Cowboys and Lions finished the season with identical 12–5 records, the former got the No. 2 seed while the latter got the No. 3 seed based on a head-to-head tiebreaker.

The Cowboys were defeated at home in the Wild Card Round by the No. 7 seed Green Bay Packers, while the Lions defeated the No. 6 seed Los Angeles Rams and No. 4 seed Tampa Bay Buccaneers at home. However, they were defeated by the No. 1 seed 49ers in the NFC Championship Game.