The Detroit Lions are one of the most creative teams in the NFL. During Sunday Night Football, they used a trick play where quarterback Jared Goff served as a receiver and running back David Montgomery passed him the ball. At first, it all worked as the Kansas City Chiefs weren’t able to stop the play. However, a late flag brought the play back and an ‘illegal motion‘ penalty was marked. Here, we’ll explain how that rule works.
This is Rule 7, Section 4, Article 2, Item 3 of the official NFL rulebook. It states, “It is legal for a T-Formation Quarterback to go in motion, whether he has placed his hands under center, on his knees, or on the body of the center. However, it is a false start if the action is quick and abrupt. If the player fails to come to a complete stop for at least one full second prior to the ball being snapped, it is illegal motion.”
Goff failed on that last part, he never stopped his motion before the ball being snapped and hence, it’s a five-yard penalty against the Lions, and a sigh of relief for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Fans weren’t happy
The Lions are one of those endearing teams, and the Chiefs are the team to beat. Therefore, all neutral fans were actually kind of rooting for Detroit. Needless to say, people weren’t happy with the call, even if it was enforcing an existing rule. User Eliashalew said, “No.Fun.League” referring to what NFL stands for nowadays.
Later in the press conference, Goff said “that’s a new version of that rule that I have never head of.” He also admitted he thought that by keeping his hands down and not under center, he though it was all legal but he also admitted that if that’s the rule, the team needs to do a better research on it.
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It cost the Lions more than just a touchdown
The Chiefs are a team that you need to really kill or they will come back and haunt you. This play happened during the Detroit’s first drive and due to it, the Lions had to settle for a field goal. Kansas City then marched the field and scored and set the tempo for the rest of the game.
The Lions then tried to play catch up with the Chiefs and the Chiefs never stopped going in full force. The final score was Lions 17-30 Chiefs. Overall, the Chiefs were much better as they collected 355 total yards to the Lions’ 297. Mahomes also got his first win against Jared Goff, putting the head-to-head record 1-2.
