Did the Detroit Lions get away with one on their 4th-down conversion late in their 34-31 win over the Green Bay Packers at Ford Field in Detroit, Mich., on Thursday night? That’s what some people think, but they are incorrect.
The Lions made the bold call to go for it on 4th-and-inches from the Green Bay 21 with 43 seconds left. Jared Goff handed the ball off to David Montgomery, who rushed 7 yards to convert a first down and set up the winning field goal. But before Goff handed the ball off to Montgomery, the Lions quarterback had fallen down, and his left knee hit the ground. That left some fans wondering why Goff wasn’t ruled down.
How does that not count as Jared Goff taking a knee?!? He took a knee behind the center the ball should be dead…..#nfl #lions #packers
— John Archie 🌵🏜️ (@jarchie70) December 6, 2024
Jared goff's knee was down and the NFL missed that call. It was so obvious pic.twitter.com/rCHK5mEDDL
— J Dogg (@JDogg192842) December 6, 2024
Jared Goff knee hit the ground before he got the handoff out and the refs didn’t do anything lmao pic.twitter.com/uioCLjqMYI
— John (@iam_johnw) December 6, 2024
The officials made the correct call.
Goff was not touched by the defense when he was down, which meant the play was still live. If it were college, he would have been ruled down. And the difference between that play and one where a quarterback takes a knee is that in the latter scenario, the player is willingly giving themselves up, which marks them down. In this scenario, the play was very much alive.
It’s a good thing for Detroit that Goff was still able to get the ball to Montgomery despite being tripped by a teammate. Without that, the ball would have been turned over to the Packers on downs, and Green Bay would have had an opportunity to drive for a potential winning field goal. Instead, Detroit was able to kick a 35-yarder to win the game as time expired.
