What Mistake Dan Campbell Admitted Making Against Buccaneers

Detroit Lions coach admits grasping for straws against Buccaneers.

Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell and Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles shake hands | Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images

Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell provided additional clarity regarding challenge decisions he made against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Detroit's fifth-year head acknowledged challenging to see if Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield was down before fumbling the football.

During the game, officials declared the Lions were challenging if the runner was "down by contact short of the line to gain.”

Campbell has never shied away from admitting mistakes, and one day after defeating the NFC South powerhouse, he indicated he simply should not have thrown the challenge flag on that play.

"Yeah, that was a bad challenge. That was just a total mess up on my part. That was me thinking that he was down at the fumble site. That’s more grasping for straws," said Campbell. "I shouldn’t have done that. You were totally like, ‘What the hell is he doing?’ You’d be correct.”

Second look

Campbell also acknowledged the intention was to challenge whether tight end Cade Otton completed the process of the catch on a play early in the fourth quarter.

Upon the initial review, the officiating crew ruled Otton had completed the process of the catch.

What happened next confused many observers. The officials next reviewed the spotting of the football. After a second look, the decision was made that Detroit had not lost a challenge, but that the football was actually short of the line to gain, forcing a turnover on downs.

As the pool report explained, “Later in the process we received an enhanced view from broadcast that showed that when the knee was down, the ball was short of the line to gain. We were having issues with the referee’s O2O (official-to-official communication system), which is why he was brought back to the monitor. We did not show him anything on the screen at that point, it was simply to communicate to clean up the ruling on the field.”

It is important to note that on any given challenge, it is allowable for officials to review any aspect of the play.

Campbell was asked if what occurred in Kansas City may have actually ended up benefitting the Lions with decisions made the officials.

"I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know if there is or not. I know that every game, there’s different angles, and it took a while to get the angle that they saw that proved that he did not get the marker," said Campbell. "Normally, it doesn’t always go down that way. I don’t know, I’ll take it. We’ll take it and we’ll move on.”