The Detroit Lions gambled and seemed to win. They did everything right, except have offensive lineman Taylor Decker report as eligible before he caught a pass.
The Lions' two-point conversion attempt with 23 seconds left that went for a score to Decker was wiped out due to an illegal touching penalty. The Lions had an extra offensive lineman come in the game and report as eligible to the officials but Decker did not. He had to report as eligible to be a receiver on the play and that didn't happen. The score was taken off the board as Lions coach Dan Campbell screamed at the officials. That score would have put the Lions ahead 22-21 with just a few seconds left.
The Lions had two shots at the two-point conversion after that, due to a Cowboys offsides penalty on the first attempt, but Goff threw incomplete on the last attempt and the Cowboys hung on to win 20-19.
Campbell made an aggressive call after the Lions scored a late touchdown and it seemed to work. But the Lions got the details wrong.
CeeDee Lamb hits huge 1st half play
The first half featured plenty of mistakes from both teams. Even on the one big highlight of the first half, CeeDee Lamb scoring a 92-yard touchdown, the Lions whiffed on sacking Dak Prescott for a safety when a blitz was unblocked. Prescott deftly moved out of the way, kept the play alive and hit Lamb downfield for the longest play from scrimmage of the NFL season.
there were other big errors. Lamb fumbled right before crossing the goal line, and it went out of the end zone giving the Lions a touchback. The Lions hit a nice fake punt after that but went for it on fourth-and-goal from Dallas' 4-yard line and threw incomplete.
The Lions defense played pretty well but the offense didn't score a touchdown in the first half. The Cowboys led 7-3 at halftime, but couldn't feel too good about the way it played. Other than one enormous play, it was a troubling half for a struggling team.
Cowboys take a 4th quarter lead
The Cowboys defense started giving up plenty of yards, particularly on the ground. David Montgomery scored on a 3-yard run to give Detroit a 10-7 lead early in the third quarter. owThe Cowboys defense started giving up plenty of yards, particularly on the ground. David Montgomery scored on a 3-yard run to give Detroit a 10-7 lead early in the third quarter.
It took a long time for the Cowboys to take back the lead. Finally with 7:20 left in the game, Prescott hit Brandin Cooks for a touchdown and Dallas led 17-13.
The Lions went three-and-out and punted, and the Cowboys had a shot to put the game away. But Aidan Hutchinson had a huge sack on third down with 2:40 left and it gave the Lions one more shot at the win. But safety Donovan Wilson picked off Goff just ahead of the two-minute warning. Detroit had yet another shot after that. The Lions got a stop and the Cowboys kicked a field goal for a 20-13 lead, but there was more than a minute to go. Goff hit rookie tight end Sam LaPorta on back-to-back plays to get into Dallas territory.
The Lions kept marching and Amon-Ra St. Brown scored with 23 seconds left. It seemed obvious that Campbell, who is very aggressive on fourth downs, would go for two and the win. He did. The Lions' extra lineman reported, but Decker didn't, ESPN's replays showed.
The Cowboys escaped. They can thank the Lions for not getting a detail right on a tricky two-point attempt.
