Dan Skipper fires back at NFL, insists he was signalling in personnel grouping

ALLEN PARK — Dan Skipper didn’t have much to say after the loss in Dallas. Four days later, he still didn’t have much to say that was good.

“I still don’t have a lot of positive thoughts,” said the Detroit Lions offensive lineman who is at the center of the officiating gaffe in Dallas. “I really don’t have a lot of positive words. I appreciate the shot across the bow (from the league).”

Skipper has chosen his words carefully in an effort to not get fined, but is clearly baffled at the officiating decisions that led to him being incorrectly indentified as an eligible receiver on the ill-fated 2-point play in Dallas. Now he’s been targeted with criticism for the play, including in a memo the league circulated to all 32 teams that singled him out for the officiating error.

“Yeah, I’ve seen it all,” Skipper said. “Next question.”

Skipper is a backup offensive lineman who gets most of his playing time as an extra tackle in jumbo formations, and often reports as an eligible receiver. He’s done it throughout the season, and once more earlier in the game in Dallas, and knows the protocol for reporting eligibility: Wipe the front of his jersey at the numbers with his hands while walking up to the official and saying, “Sir, I’d like to report.”

The Lions tried to use this tendency against Dallas, instructing Skipper to run toward the officials as if he would report again before rerouting toward the line of scrimmage. Meanwhile, left tackle Taylor Decker walked up to referee Brad Allen and wiped his front numbers while verbally saying, “Report,” fulfilling the league requirements for reporting eligibility.

But Allen was fixated on Skipper running onto the field at the time, and incorrectly identified him as the reporting player. Even though Skipper never spoke with the officials, and never wiped the numbers on the front of his jersey.

Skipper did use hand signals that might have been misinterpreted by Allen as reporting eligibility, but Skipper says those were to identify personnel groupings for the offense. One arm was raised in the air with a flexed bicep, Detroit’s signal for a jumbo package, while the other hand was shaped like a gun near his chest, the signal for 12 personnel, a package that includes one running back, two tight ends and two receivers on the field.

Allen saw that while ignoring Decker and announced Skipper as the eligible receiver, but players didn’t know that because it was so loud at the sold-out AT&T Stadium. Head coach Dan Campbell also said he didn’t hear the announcement, and didn’t have a timeout to rectify the situation even if he had heard the error

“Obviously when you’re on the road, you can’t hear, and you can’t hear over the intercom when they say that,” Skipper said. “So every swinging guy on the Cowboys is pointing at Penei (Sewell), that he’s eligible, because no one heard (the announcement). I think the media, y’all are the only people who heard it through the intercom. But we couldn’t hear anything. It is what it is. I appreciate the shot across the bow from the league. We’ll make sure that doesn’t happen again.

Once Decker caught the go-ahead pass with 23 seconds left, the crew eventually threw a delayed flag for illegal touching. Detroit couldn’t convert the 2-point play after that and fell 20-19, dealing a huge blow to the team’s chances of climbing out of the No. 3 seed.

After the game, Allen doubled down on the error, insisting Skipper had reported as eligible..

“On this particular play, No. 70 (Skipper), who had reported during the game a couple of times, reported to me as eligible,” Allen said after the game. “Then he lined up at the tackle position. So, actually, he didn’t have to report at all. No. 68, who ended up going downfield and touching the pass, did not report. Therefore, he is an ineligible touching a pass that goes beyond the line, which makes it a foul. So, the issue is, No. 70 did report, No. 68 did not.”

The NFL tripled-down on the error this week, distributing a memo to all 32 teams that blames Lions players for the miscommunication. The video focuses on Skipper, circling him in yellow while showing an earlier play where Skipper correctly reported as eligible. Then the video shifts to the 2-point play, continuing to highlight Skipper in yellow and explaining the protocols for reporting eligibility: Wiping the numbers with the hands while verbally saying to the official, “Report

The video ignores Decker, who did walk up to Allen and wipe his numbers while saying, “Report.”

“Typically you have to go up to the official and very (directly tell him you are reporting),” Skipper said. “You can watch it all year. You can watch the first quarter, Play 4, and granted I only did it once during the game this week — so the multiple times throughout the game (that Allen said), also not true, but we’ll leave that there — but when you walk up you say, ‘Sir, I am reporting as eligible.’

“It’s not like 5-yard, take a left turn thing. I’ve gotten that penalty before, y’all can find that one. That was a similar situation where you’re reporting and don’t (tell the referee), ‘I am reporting as eligible.’ That’s how it is, that’s how it goes. Y’all can watch it all season. It’s clear as (expletive).”

Apparently, it wasn’t for Allen. The Lions’ efforts to fool the Cowboys wound up fooling the crew too. Now the NFL has singled out Skipper for the error, even though he neither verbally nor physically reported eligibility, while issuing a video that focuses on him and not the actual reporting player (Decker).

Skipper has seen plenty of criticism over the last few days, and now he’s ready to turn the page to Minnesota.

“Just a bunch of keyboard warriors,” Skipper said. “The good thing is there’s a delete button on Twitter. The city of Detroit’s been great though. Driving into work is fun. I don’t know who paid for (the billboards), but it’s good to see. But at some point, everyone has to move forward from this. Let’s move this thing along. (Stuff) happens. It is what it is. I mean, (shoot), you can’t sit here and wallow in the past. Like, (shoot), I’ve had 30 contracts. If it was egregious, I would have gotten my ass cut. You screw up egregiously enough, you get fired. So for me not to get fired, it wasn’t that bad on my end. Let’s move on.