Lions head coach Dan Campbell tossed his challenge flag twice on Monday night. Both times, replays showed he was mistaken about whym he challenged. But he ended up winning one of those challenges anyway.
Campbell explained that when Buccaneers tight end Cade Otton was first ruled to have gained a first down on a fourth-and-4 catch, he challenged because he thought Otton didn’t complete the catch. The replay confirmed Otton did make the grab, and the referee initially declared that Detroit had lost the challenge. However, replays also revealed Otton was tackled short of the line to gain, and after further review, officials ruled the Lions had actually won the challenge — though not for the reason Campbell threw it.
When asked if the Lions had benefited from New York’s officiating office stepping in — similar to when a touchdown was taken away against the Chiefs — Campbell said he wasn’t sure if that played a role.
“I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know if that is or not,” Campbell said. “Every game there are different camera angles, and it took time to find one that showed he didn’t reach the marker. Usually, it doesn’t happen that way. So I don’t know. I’ll take it. We’ll take it and move on.”
Campbell said his other challenge, on a Baker Mayfield fumble recovered by Tampa Bay, was simply a poor decision to throw the flag on a correctly called play.
“That was a bad challenge,” Campbell admitted. “That was completely on me. I thought he was down before the fumble. That was me reaching. I shouldn’t have done that. So if you were wondering, ‘What the hell is he doing?’ you were absolutely right.”