During Sunday’s game against the Rams, Lions head coach Dan Campbell threw a challenge flag after a 23-yard catch by Colby Parkinson. Campbell said Parkinson went down at the 4-yard line, but the officials gave him a couple extra yards where he fell forward after his knee was down.
Campbell was right: Parkinson was down at the 4-yard line. But coaches can’t challenge where a player is down unless it affects whether or not the player gained a first down. And there was no question that Parkinson gained a first down, so Campbell was charged a timeout for throwing a challenge flag on a non-reviewable play.
Still, during the time after Campbell threw the challenge flag, the replay assistant apparently told the referee the spot had been wrong, and it was fixed. Campbell said after the game that he was right, and the review fixed the bad spot, but he lost a timeout anyway.
“They said I cannot challenge that because it’s not line to gain,” Campbell said. “But it was wrong, which they corrected. So I won the challenge but I lost my timeout.”
That was one of two replay controversies on passes to Parkinson on Sunday. On another, the officials ruled on the field that Parkinson scored a touchdown even though replay appeared to show he was down at the 1-yard line. Replay upheld the ruling on the field. Campbell said he was given no explanation other than that the call stood.
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