For a moment on Thanksgiving, the Lions appeared to have tied the game late against the Vikings by blocking a field goal and returning it for a touchdown. Instead they had jumped offside, giving the Vikings a first down and allowing them to kneel down to run out the clock and clinch the victory.
Replays made clear that the officials were correct to call Darius Slay offside before he blocked the kick, but afterward the Lions couldn’t accept it.
“I wasn’t,” Slay said. “I don’t feel like I was. They cheated me.”
Nevin Lawson, who picked up the blocked kick and ran it to the end zone, was asked after the game whether he thought Slay was offside and answered, “Nope.”
Whether Slay and Lawson realize it or not, Slay was offside. In a game with a lot of bad calls, that call was right.