Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell pulled a hilariously petty move at the start of Sunday’s Week 6 game against the Dallas Cowboys.
The Lions were facing the Cowboys in a road game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, for the second consecutive season, and Campbell seemingly decided to make reference to how last season’s game controversially finished.
The very first Lions offensive play from scrimmage involved offensive lineman Dan Skipper reporting as an eligible receiver.
On the VERY first offensive play for the Lions today, they report #70, Dan Skipper, as an eligible receiver.
Dan Campbell has a sense of humor.
— Mike Leslie (@MikeLeslieWFAA) October 13, 2024
Skipper does that on a semi-regular basis for the Lions, but this certainly felt like a reference to the controversial two-point conversion the Lions executed in a Week 17 game last December.
The Lions appeared to pull off a huge trick play to win in Dallas, but offensive lineman Taylor Decker, who caught the conversion, was penalized for being ineligible. After the game, officials said Skipper, not Decker, was the lineman who had reported as eligible, even though video seemed to dispute that.
Obviously, there is no real comparison between that play and anything the Lions were trying to pull to open Sunday’s game. Campbell has done things like this before, however, so given the context, this probably was not a coincidence.
