It wouldn’t be a Detroit Lions vs. Green Bay Packers game without some controversy. Sunday, it came in the form of a 34-yard pass to Marvin Jones Jr. along the left sideline. Jones makes an acrobatic catch as he’s drifting out of bounds.
At first, it looked like it had no chance of being complete, so it was no surprise it was ruled that way on the field. However, replays appeared to show that his left foot was either dragging or had just barely lifted off the ground by the time he took possession of the ball.
Either way, Jones was convinced he made the catch after the game, but then he dropped this interesting nugget to the media.
“I was actually mic’d up and there were a couple of refs that thought it was a catch, too, so I’ll just leave it at that,” Jones said.
Well, lo and behold, the Detroit Lions dropped the mic’d up segment on Wednesday, and a good 80 seconds of it is devoted to that moment in the game. It’s really an incredible sequence of video, in which we hear from Jones, Lions interim coach Darrell Bevell, wide receiver coach Robert Prince and several officials in the game. That part of the video starts around the six-minute mark below:
First, there’s Marvin Jones Jr. and Danny Amendola screaming at the sidelines to throw the flag after seeing a replay on the big screen. Bevell obliges shortly thereafter. Then the discussion begins on the sideline.
“That might be a touchdown!” Prince says.
“I gotta go with him, I think it’s incomplete,” a ref responds, backing up the call on the field. “I thought his left foot was in the air whenever he went out of bounds.”
Then everyone stood together and watched another replay on the big screen.
“Oh there, he got it down!” Prince said to the ref, referring to Jones’ left foot. The ref only laughed behind his mask before the scene cut away.
Then we see Jones and Matthew Stafford watch replays from the field. Both seem convinced the call on the field will be overturned.
Back to the sidelines, Bevell gives the officials props for seeing what they did in real time.
“I will say, you guys are amazing to be able to see that in real time,” Bevell said.
But the ref stood firm believing the call was not going to get overturned.
“I don’t think he gets his left foot down. I think his foot is still in the air.”
“Can we get one?” Bevell finally pleads, but to no avail. The call stands.
Even Packers players were telling Marvin Jones after the game that it was a catch.
Here’s Aaron Rodgers:
“I don’t know how they don’t call that a catch. That’s a catch. That’s a catch all day long.”
And Davante Adams:
“That was a catch. I said, ‘He’s losing his mind right now.’’’
The entire video is worth your time, as it includes the team’s reaction when Stafford goes down and an energetic Darrell Bevell.
