Did Dak Pescott get the ball completely out of the end zone before he was first contacted by a defender? NFL officials said he did, and therefore, a sack in the first quarter of Thursday night's game between the Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions was not ruled a safety. Others watching the game weren't so sure.
The controversial play happened in the first quarter. Facing a third down, Prescott backed up to his own goal line on a passing play. But before he could get rid of the ball, Prescott was sacked by Detroit's Jack Campbell. After briefly conferencing, the officials ruled that it was a safety. Rules analyst Terry McAulay agreed with the call and expected the ruling to be upheld on review.
"It's a perfect view, Kirk," McAulay said to Kirk Herbstreit. "If any part of the ball is breaking the goal line when that contact is made by the defender, then it's a safety. And it looked from that shot that part of the ball was still over the goal line. So this should stand as called."
When referee Shawn Hochuli announced that the call was overturned, McAulay questioned the decision.
"I'm just not seeing it that way," he said. "They're saying the entire ball is out and of course it's, you know, subjective here. But I really don't see the entire ball out of the end zone, which has to be clear and obvious to reverse."
Others, meanwhile, were not convinced. And it wasn't just Lions fans saying it.
"As a Cowboys fan, I gotta admit, the Lions just got screwed BIG TIME," one fan said.
"This is absolutely a safety," a Cowboys fan account said. "Lions got robbed of 2 points."
"HOW IS THIS NOT A SAFETY???" The Detroit Times account said.
"There is nothing - absolutely nothing - to suggest this safety should have been overturned," Jordan Schultz said. "Wild."
It's worth noting that when the game returned from a commercial break following the ensuing punt, McCaulay changed his tune.
"It does appear from this, straight down the line, that the entire ball is out of the end zone on this one," he said. "So given this angle, they did get it correct."
The second angle did more strongly support that the entire ball was out of the end zone at contact, though whether it was definitive can be debated.
Plenty of officiating controversies took place during Week 13 of the NFL season. If the league was hoping to get through Week 14 without one, those hopes were quickly dashed.