Campbell: No word from NFL on apparent missed call
Dan Campbell thought he would get an apology that “doesn’t mean anything” from the NFL on Monday, but 24 hours after officials appeared to miss a delay-of-game penalty just before Justin Tucker’s game-winning field goal, the Lions coach still was waiting for his phone to ring.
Campbell said in a video conference Monday he did not receive an explanation from the NFL about the play, a league spokesperson declined comment beyond the pool report from after Sunday's game.
Tucker made an NFL-record 66-yard field goal as time expired to give the Ravens a 19-17 win over the Lions on Sunday at Ford Field.
The Ravens converted a fourth-and-19 three plays before Tucker’s kick to get in field goal range, then after spiking the ball to kill the clock, Lamar Jackson threw incomplete on second down.
Replays showed the Ravens snapped the ball on second down about 1.8 seconds after the play clock on the CBS broadcast expired. Typically, officials allow a brief grace period once the play clock hits zero, about the length of time it takes to look from the play clock to the center to make sure the ball is being snapped.
Referee Scott Novak offered little explanation for the no-call in a pool report after the game, saying he had not reviewed the play to determine whether a penalty should have been enforced.
Had a delay-of-game penalty been called, the Ravens would have had to try a 71-yard field goal or more likely heave a Hail Mary towards the end zone.
Campbell downplayed the impact of the nocall on Sunday, saying the Lions made plenty of mistakes in the first half and had a chance to get off the field on fourth-and-19.
On Monday, he admitted he did not sleep after the game.
“Look, I had my family with me so as much as I can, I try to cover up my poop face and try and talk to them and just try to get away from it for a minute,” he said. “And then, last night then I went back to start watching the tape, so I at least try to cool my head a little bit before I just start watching, cause I don’t want to go into it with a certain mindset. I want to try to be as fresh-minded as much as possible about it.
And then you just — look, you don’t sleep. That’s the nature of it. It’s hard cause you’re thinking of all these different things. It is what it is.”
Campbell pinned the Lions’ bigger issues Sunday on “communication errors” between their linebacking corps and secondary.
The Ravens had six pass plays of more than
20 yards Sunday, the same number they had in the season’s first two games. Jackson threw for a season-high 287 yards and one touchdown, and had three more scores dropped by receiver Marquise Brown.
“Major communication errors,” Campbell said. “And really, let’s put it this way, lack of. Lack of. We have to get much more demonstrative and very clear, concise and loud. And pass it along. Because that’s what it is. It’s not the scheme, it’s the communication between players in our back end and our linebackers. And we have to, man, we’ve got to clean it up. That was the errors that showed.”
‘Still working on’ Collins trade
Nearly a week after they demoted him from the starting lineup and put him on the trading block, the Lions are still looking for a landing spot for Jamie Collins.
“We’re still working on it right now,” Campbell said Monday. “That’s still in the works.”
The Lions benched Collins last week and decided to go young at their buck linebacker position. Rookie Derrick Barnes started Sunday’s loss to the Baltimore Ravens and split playing time about equally with Jalen Reeves-Maybin.
Campbell said last week the Lions had multiple suitors for Collins and hoped to have a deal in place “sooner than later.”
It is unclear how many teams have legitimate interest in Collins, though judging by the lack of a deal, there are not many.
Collins turns 32 next month, is considered on the decline as a player and has about $3 million remaining on his contract this season. More than a third of the league — 11 teams, according to the salary cap tracking website Spotrac — has less than $3 million in available cap space.
The Lions are expected to continue playing Barnes and Reeves-Maybin at the inside linebacker position next to Alex Anzalone for the foreseeable future, though Campbell said communication issues between the linebacking corps and secondary accounted for several of the coverage busts that led to big Ravens pass plays Sunday.
Collins was inactive against the Ravens. “We’ve got a lot of babies out there and they made some young errors, for sure,” Campbell said. “But they’re not the only ones. So some of our veterans, man, they have to step up and they have to be much more clear and they have to be loud. That’ll be a major point of emphasis this week is our communication and we’re not going to allow it to go any other way. If I have to stop practice and I have to see demonstrative hand signals and screaming and everything it takes, we’re going to do it cause those, we can clean all that stuff up. But that’s got to be — we have to do it. We have to.”