Detroit Lions v Baltimore Ravens Greg Fiume/GettyImages

Lions completely robbed on drive vs. Ravens after strange call

Originally posted on Side Lion Report
By Candace Pedraza | Last updated Sep 22, 2025 8:55 PM ET

The Detroit Lions were quickly reminded of just how much refereeing can impact the early momentum of a game in their second drive of their contest versus the Baltimore Ravens.

After scoring a touchdown on their first drive, the Lions were looking to keep utilizing Jahmyr Gibbs heavily on their second. On one of Jared Goff's first passes of the drive, he threw to Gibbs after feeling major pressure coming up the middle. Gibbs tipped the ball and it landed on the ground. Incomplete pass, right?

Wrong, according to lead referee on the night Bill Vinovich. The Lions were charged a fumble, rather than an incomplete pass, which led to a loss of nine yards on the play. They eventually fizzled on the drive, never getting a first down and eventually punting to Baltimore.

It's ticky-tacky calls like this that tend to come back to haunt a team. By not getting a shot at getting another decent drive against the Ravens on the road, the Lions lost momentum.

Strange call leads to a killed drive for Detroit during Monday Night Football

The refs cost the Detroit Lions 9 yards on this missed call pic.twitter.com/UGyAf64YAW
— Woodward Sports Network (@woodwardsports) September 23, 2025

Detroit is looking to avoid becoming a part of Lamar Jackson's collection of downed NFC teams in recent years...again. The Lions already dropped a game 38-6 against the Ravens back in 2023 in embarassing fashion, so they came into this contest with a ton of fire under them to get some revenge on the team for that game.