Lions Fans Protest Blown NFL Playoffs Call with 'Detroit Lyin' ' Billboards

Among the billboards is this one depicting a referee giving the pass interference hand signal, a protest of what the NFL has admitted were blown calls in Sunday’s Detroit Lions-Dallas Cowboys wild card showdown. (Photo via Twitter)

_______________________

You didn’t think Detroit Lions fans were just going to let that go, did you?

A group of Lions fans has bought digital billboard space across the metro to protest the blown call in Sunday’s wild card playoff game with the Dallas Cowboys, the Detroit Free Press reports.

The “Detroit Lyin’ ” billboards offer at least two takes on a pass interference call made, then reversed, in Sunday’s NFL game. The #detroitlyin hashtag on Twitter reveals various photos of billboards, including one showing a referee giving the hand signal for pass interference, a call made and then reversed in Sunday’s game. Another depicts the flag at the feet of a referee, a reference to flag referee Pete Morelli threw.

When the infraction wasn’t called, the Lions punted on fourth down with a yard to go, putting the Cowboys in position for the winning drive in the 24-20 game.

After the non-call, sports journalists piled on.

“The Detroit Lions were hosed,” Mike Foss wrote on usatoday.com. “ ... Detroit has every reason to feel cheated this morning. ... No, the officials Sunday night weren’t corrupt. They weren’t plotting against Detroit. They were incompetent, and that’s far worse.”

“... Holy cow. What a crime,” Jason Whitlock of espn.com said. “The credibility of the league has been hurt. Someone should be fired.”

“Lions fans have a right to be miffed,” Bill Barnwell of grantland.com wrote.

Obama: “I’d Be Aggravated”

Even President Obama has entered the fray. He said in an interview with The Detroit News that he would be miffed if he were a Lions fan.

The president watched the game and said he couldn’t “remember a circumstance in which a good call by one of the refs is argued about by an opposing player of the other team with his helmet off on the field, which in and of itself is supposed to be a penalty.”

“The call is announced and then reversed without explanation,” Obama said. “I haven’t seen that before – so I will leave it up to the experts to make the judgment as to why that happen – but I can tell you if I was a Lions fan I’d be pretty aggravated.”

The NFL admitted it botched calls that many in the Lions organization believe cost the team a chance to win its first playoff game in 23 years, the Free Press said.

Among the missed calls was a “blatant hold” committed on Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh that occurred after the more controversial call that set up the Cowboys’ winning drive, FOX Sports reports.

A hold call would have put the Cowboys at fourth-and-16 from their 48, likely resulting in a punt back to Detroit.

“People Are Passionate About the Lions”

Lions linebacker Tahir Whitehead said an apology after-the-fact is hollow and he doesn’t want to hear it.

“It would mean nothing,” Whitehead said. “Absolutely nothing. Because at this point, we’re out of the tournament and we can’t do anything about it. So I wouldn’t want to hear any apologies at this point, because it wouldn’t mean anything to me.”

The digital protest will likely go on for a few days in metro Detroit and may surface in other parts of Michigan, Outfront Media’s Tom Carroll told MLive.com.

Carroll didn’t identify the fans behind the billboards but he described them as “moderately miffed” – which is apparently miffed enough to spend $1,000 a week to express their outrage along well-traveled routes in the metro.

He didn’t say exactly how many billboards there are, but they have been spotted along I-94 east, I-96, I-75, I-696, M-14 and Coolidge Highway. Reaction has been mostly positive.

“I’m a longtime Detroit Lions fan. We thought it was a clever idea we wanted to get out there to the motoring public,” Carroll said. “People are passionate about the Lions.”