Irate Rex Ryan Blasts Cowboys-Lions Refs For Late Penalty Call

Include Rex Ryan among those who believe the ending to Saturday night’s Lions-Cowboys game was a rough look for the NFL.

The Week 17 contest at AT&T Stadium came down to the wire, and Detroit appeared to take a one-point lead with 23 seconds left when offensive tackle Taylor Decker caught a pass in the end zone on a two-point conversion attempt. But Decker was flagged for illegal touching — even though he seemingly reported as eligible before the play — which nullified the score and helped Dallas secure a 20-19 win.

Ryan, as he made abundantly clear Sunday morning on ESPN, believes the sequence wasn’t properly handled by head referee Brad Allen and his crew.

“One hundred percent, he missed it,” Ryan said. “Would we please stop blaming the players? The players did exactly what they were supposed to do. Every one of them, right from Jared Goff telling Decker (to) go report. He went right over there and reported with that nod of the official.”

Ryan added: “The thing that bothers me the most is that we’re putting blame on the players. Stop. The players did everything right. So, quit blaming. Quit covering somebody’s butt. Tell it the way it is. Be a man and take responsibility. It’s BS. ‘Oh, it’s just a game.’ Yeah, it’s a game that very well may cost them the second seed certainly and possibly the first seed.”

That final point arguably was the most significant to come out of the primetime tilt in Jerry World. Now 11-5, the NFC North champion Lions have virtually no chance of securing a playoff seed higher than No. 3.