NFL Admits Officials Missed Another Crucial Cowboys Penalty

Poor Detroit. The NFL is just rubbing it in at this point.

Dallas got the ball back midway through the fourth quarter of Sunday's win over Detroit only because officials screwed up, failing to call anywhere from one to three penalties on a single, controversial play. Tony Romo led what would turn out to be the game-winning drive, but not without things getting hairy: he had to convert a fourth-and-6 with six minutes left to keep the drive alive. And it shouldn't have happened, per Adam Schefter:

NFL admitted to Lions today that officials missed a hold on Ndamukong Suh on the 4th-down conversion from Tony Romo to Jason Witten with 6 minutes left in the game (after the controversial Brandon Pettigrew play and before the Dallas TD). Had holding been called, it would have put Cowboys in 4th and 16 on Detroit side of the field. Dallas would have punted and Detroit still would have the lead.

Here's the video of that play. The most telling replay begins at 0:17.

Keep an eye on Ndamukong Suh (No. 90), rushing from Romo's left. Suh is blocked—then held—by Cowboys guard Ronald Leary (No. 65) just as he comes within arm's reach of Romo. Instead of a sack, or a knockdown, Romo completes a 21-yard pass to Witten.

Suh was pretty much wrecking Leary's shit all game, so you do what you have to do. But even though Lions fans have been bitching for two days about Dallas's O-linemen holding Detroit's pass rushers—even more egregiously than what usually goes uncalled in most every game—this acknowledgement isn't going to make them feel much better.

Tune in tomorrow, when the NFL reveals another way the Lions got fucked.