Well, now that things have calmed down somewhat I guess I’ll say my piece. I would have done it earlier but was having a tough time coming up with a joke.

So the Detroit/Dallas game was quite the kerfluffle wasn’t it?

Okay, so obviously, as a Giants fan, I am absolutely admitting that I was 100% a Lions fan for this game and I am sad that the Dallas Cowboys have advanced to the Divisional Round. I hate the Cowboys almost as much as I hate the Eagles, it’s like 1A and 1b, followed by the Redskins and then the Giants themselves. I am required by law and moral boundaries to despise the very existence of the Dallas Cowboys and wish them nothing but pain and misery for the remainder of eternity. So I’m a touch biased here, is what I’m saying.

That was probably one of the worst officiated games I’ve seen, and possibly the worst officiated playoff game in years. It was all highlighted by the big Defensive Pass Interference flag on 3rd down that was picked up and made the Lions punt on a critical drive. It was DPI. No matter what argument people want to make, it was DPI. If it wasn’t DPI it was at the very minimum defensive holding, as Hitchens grabbed a handful of jersey on the play before he jumped in the way of Pettigrew without turning around. The lack of turning around is pretty much DPI’s calling card. The play should have been called. If it wasn’t called, it should have been defensive holding, also a auto first down. Many Cowboys fans have pointed out that Pettigrew also touched and possibly grabbed Hitchen’s face mask on the play, like that somehow makes it better. That makes it worse. That’s 3 penalties the refs missed. At worst, it should have been offsetting penalties, replay down. Add onto that the refs completely ignored Dez Bryant rushing onto the field like a madman, something that could have been called for unsportsmanlike conduct. The play was a complete, utter, officiating failure on all counts and at very minimum the Lions should have gotten another down and we should have had at least 1 call on the play instead of nothing.

Since the game Dallas and Detroit fans have been sniping at each other with missed calls being all “Yeah, well they didn’t call that, BUT THEY DIDN’T CALL THIS EITHER, WE HAD IT WORSE” and it’s just petty. That game was abysmally called on both sides. The non-hold on Suh on 4th down was terrible. The running into the punter penalty should have been picked up. Every play basically has holding in it and this one was no exception. I think, ultimately, that Dallas got the calls down the stretch and that’s why Detroit is so mad, but those calls only influence the outcome to a certain degree, they do not decide it. The Lions were bad in the second half and Dallas pulled it together. Sniping at each other about uncalled flags is just kind of pathetic. The game is over. The refs admitted they were wrong. The NFL has admitted failures to both teams. It doesn’t help Detroit at this stage, but there’s nothing you can do but move on. Some Detroit fans need to realize there isn’t this conspiracy, the game is not rigged. If the NFL wanted Dallas to win they’d have done so years ago instead of letting them toil as choke artists for a decade. NFL conspiracy nuts always show up when there is a controversial loss and it’s just depressing to see people so butthurt that they can’t accept their team simply didn’t win that they have to assume there is foul play afoot. It’s funny, you never see anyone cry conspiracy when their team wins, do you? Detroit vs Everybody? I’m almost positive the only people who wanted Dallas to win that game were Dallas fans, and your team has certainly earned somewhat of a rep with Riaola and Suh’s actions in the past two weeks (Also, if the NFL wanted Detroit to lose, why overturn Suh’s suspension?). Also, it’s okay Dallas fans, you don’t have to sit there shoving other uncalled penalties in Detroit’s faces and making it worse for them. Your team won, it’s okay to admit some big calls went in your favor, they don’t need justification because this kind of thing happens to some extent in every game and if you play the “what if” game the world will never know who won anything because all wins will be hollow. Dallas won, Detroit lost, the game was poorly officiated, but it’s done.

The bottom line for this game is that the refs messed up, big time, across the board. They however did not decide the game. Detroit built a lead that it failed to capitalize on and Dallas fought back. It’s okay to be mad, it’s okay to admit your team got the better end of the deal, but let’s stop the petty fighting and move on, the game is over.