Yes, the ref messed up, but the Lions tried to be too tricky on that one..

Decker and Goff clearly walk up to the official to report.  But why is #70 running out there to also talk to the refs, when he lined up on the right side, inside Sewell, the right tackle??  There'd be no reason for him to talk to the official, except to try to trick the Cowboys. #70 had allegedly reported eligible a couple times during the game already, so this makes perfect sense, to set up the trick. 

Obviously the ref messed up.  But the Lions didn't help by setting it all up like that.

I'm no coach, so I'd like anyone to answer this:  why did #70 run up to the official, instead of just running into the huddle?  The official was obviously looking over at #70 instead of looking at Decker as they talked to him.

not Decker and Goff, but Decker and someone, Sewell, probably...walk up to the official.  Which raises the same question.  Why are three guys walking up to the official, when one guy is reporting as eligible? 

this "reporting eligible" happens hundreds of times every season, I'd guess.  so it's not surprising that the official would look at three numbers as one guy is reporting, then run over to the defense, and brain fart the number wrong..

I think you nailed it exactly on the head. They were trying to disguise which guy was reporting, but in doing so, they didn't make it clear to the ref who was reporting. Only one guy can report. I think there were also issues on the LOS in terms of making sure he was covered by the WR, but I guess that's all water under the bridge at that point.

it sure looks like the official is looking over at #70 running up the whole time, and ignoring Decker and the other guy who are right in front of him..

@YouWish

 Messed up? No. The referee was forced to intervene for the NFL’s desired outcome. 

Goff said he 100% knows Dekker reported. 100%. he was there. He also said Skipper DID NOT report. 

It only matters once the conversion is successful, then the ref has to act and he did. 

Ref tells them that Skipper reported and Dekker didn’t. Complete bullshit. 

You're missing the point. There is no doubt in my mind that Decker reported. The problem is, the ref had 3 O-linemen talking to him at the same time, in a situation where (a) only one person can report as eligible, and (b) only one person should be talking to the ref.  The Lions fucked up, and they need to stop blaming the ref for their fuck up!

This post is 100% spot on. It’s exactly what they tried to do and it screwed them. They were trying to trick the cowboys and they tricked the ref.