The Detroit Lions have been on the short-end of plenty of bizarre calls by officials through the years, but a bad call Sunday didn’t cost them too much. Unlike game-changing calls like the one that spurred the “Calvin Johnson rule,” the clear drop by Odell Beckham, Jr. didn’t cost the Lions much.
Jim Caldwell didn’t challenge Odell Beckham Jr. drop because it was just 4 yards
Jim Caldwell has challenged just three plays all season and the conservative strategy doesn’t make much sense.
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Still, Lions head coach Jim Caldwell chose not to challenge the play and allowed the New York Giants to pick up a small chunk of yardage as part of a 10-play, 75-yard drive.
”It was 4 yards,” said Caldwell, via MLive. “We’re not going to challenge that play. It was late when we saw it, but we wouldn’t have challenged it anyway in that situation.”
Choosing not to challenge the third play from scrimmage is logical — the Lions wouldn’t want to blow through their opportunities to review plays too quickly. But Caldwell has challenged just three plays all season, and just once successfully.
There was no question whether the Lions would’ve lost a timeout on the play. The correct ruling was clear and Detroit certainly would’ve won the review:
Ultimately, it’s the officials at fault for calling the drop a catch in the first place, but Caldwell’s unwillingness to contest calls seems far too conservative, considering he hasn’t come close to needing three or more in a game.
In a Week 8 loss to the Houston Texans, Caldwell chose not to challenge a play that was ruled an incomplete pass to DeAndre Hopkins:
The Lions were down 14-3 in the third quarter at the time of the play and the drive that may have been ended by a fumble instead marched on to set up a short field goal for Nick Novak to extend Houston’s lead to 17-3.
“We got a late look at it,” Caldwell said, via MLive. “And the way we looked at, it did not look like it would be one that would be overturned because I think they applied the rule correctly in that regard. It would have been determined an incomplete pass,.
“Everybody’s got their opinions on it and that kind of thing, but we didn’t think it was a completion.”
In both the loss to the Texans in Week 8 and the most recent loss to the Giants in Week 15, Caldwell opted not to throw his challenge flag once.
The drop by Beckham was far from the most influential play of the game, but Caldwell gifted the Giants 4 yards and that can’t happen.
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