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Detroit Lions defensive back Don Carey looks on in disbelief after being flagged for defensive holding in the fourth quarter.

(Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)

ALLEN PARK -- General manager Martin Mayhew believes any talk about the officiating unnecessarily detracts from the fact that the Detroit Lions didn't do enough to beat the Dallas Cowboys in the opening round of the playoffs.

Mayhew admits he's communicated with the league office regarding the controversially overturned pass interference call against the Cowboys, exchanging emails with the NFL's vice president of officiating Dean Blandino, but feels the call was inconsequential to the 24-20 result.

"I think that the focus on a couple bad calls takes away from the fact that two really good teams played an outstanding football game that day," Mayhew said. "You know, when the (reversed pass interference) happened there were eight minutes left in the game when they got the ball back. We had every opportunity to do something to overcome that and do something positive to win that game and we didn't. They made the plays down the stretch. They deserved to win and they deserved to advance.

Instead, the Lions allowed the Cowboys to drive 59 yards on 11 plays to score the game-winning touchdown. The drive included two defensive holding calls against Detroit.

Mayhew, like coach Jim Caldwell, refuses to let the officiating from the contest be used as an excuse by the organization.

"I'm from the old school of, 'No excuses, no explanations,'" Mayhew said. "Did you win the game? No, we didn't win it. They won it, they advanced. We hope to see them next year at some point."

If the two teams do cross paths in the postseason again, Mayhew wants it to be in the friendly confines of Ford Field. He's made it his charge to inject the roster with more talent this offseason so that the Lions are in better position to win the NFC North.

"We have to get better from a talent standpoint," Mayhew said. "We have to be a better football team. I think we're a good football team right now, but we're not a great football team. We have to be able to go and win at Green Bay, which we have not done in a long time.

"Having a bye and having a home game would have obviously helped us in terms of the playoffs and advancing," he continued. "In those games, the other team played better than we played and we lost. What I take away from that is that we have to do a good job this offseason of making our football team better."

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