Detroit Lions fans will feel robbed after a controversial replay decision that cost them against the Atlanta Falcons.
Quarterback Matthew Stafford had driven the Lions down to the Atlanta two-yard line down four points, 30-26. Despite being down with 12 seconds left, it looked like Detroit was going to escape with a win by the skin of their teeth after Golden Tate sneaked the ball over the goal line on 3rd and goal with eight seconds left to give the team the lead.
Golden Tate scores with :06 left, Lions up! pic.twitter.com/bAS52X3CwR
— LeadingNFL ™ (@LeadingNFL) September 24, 2017
Super slow-mo of the Tate TD. You can make an argument he doesn't have complete control of the ball until he crosses goal line pic.twitter.com/MDrYrjvp6w
— Isaac (@WorldofIsaac) September 24, 2017
All scoring plays are reviewed immediately, and the officials ruled that there was conclusive evidence that Tate’s knee was down and he was touched before the ball crossed the plane. Worse yet for the Lions, by rule, going from a stopped clock to a moving clock requires a ten second runoff — and since the Lions did not have a timeout left, that ended the game, giving the win to Atlanta.
This isn’t the first controversial touchdown play Tate has been involved in. He’d probably happily trade that one for this one now.
