What Mistake Dan Campbell Admitted Making Against Buccaneers

Second look

Campbell also acknowledged the intention was to challenge whether tight end Cade Otton completed the process of the catch on a play early in the fourth quarter.

Upon the initial review, the officiating crew ruled Otton had completed the process of the catch.

What happened next confused many observers. The officials next reviewed the spotting of the football. After a second look, the decision was made that Detroit had not lost a challenge, but that the football was actually short of the line to gain, forcing a turnover on downs.

As the pool report explained, “Later in the process we received an enhanced view from broadcast that showed that when the knee was down, the ball was short of the line to gain. We were having issues with the referee’s O2O (official-to-official communication system), which is why he was brought back to the monitor. We did not show him anything on the screen at that point, it was simply to communicate to clean up the ruling on the field.”

It is important to note that on any given challenge, it is allowable for officials to review any aspect of the play.

Campbell was asked if what occurred in Kansas City may have actually ended up benefitting the Lions with decisions made the officials.

"I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know if there is or not. I know that every game, there’s different angles, and it took a while to get the angle that they saw that proved that he did not get the marker," said Campbell. "Normally, it doesn’t always go down that way. I don’t know, I’ll take it. We’ll take it and we’ll move on.”