What exactly was the reason for the "non-reviewable" bogus touchdown in Detroit?

I've been watching the Detroit/Houston game. There was a play where the refs didn't blow the whistle when a Houston player was CLEARLY down, but he got back up and ran it in for a touchdown.

Detroit threw the challenge flag, and the referee said that the touchdown stood and could not be reviewed, and enforced a 15 yard penalty against the Lions after the kickoff. I didn't catch what he said the reason was, but it sounded like they said it WOULD have been automatically reviewed had the Lions not thrown the challenge flag, but that since they did, they couldn't review it and they got a penalty to top it off. The replay left zero doubt that it should have been called back.

So what exactly happened? I didn't really hear the full explanation and what I thought I heard doesn't seem to make sense.

 

You nailed it in your post

Worst rule in football. Who cares if he challenged out of spot, give the team a 15 yard penalty, but don't refuse to review a play that would otherwise be automatically reviewed. Makes no sense. The priority should be about getting the call right, not punishing an idiot coach who doesn't know the rules.

 

So essentially they were punishing the Lions for asking for a review on a play that would have been reviewed anyway? That sucks, especially considering that the Lions ended up losing by 3 in OT.

 

And THAT wasn't even the worst thing that happened in that game! Did you see that low life Suh kick Schaub in the testicles? That was just totally bush league! If the league doesn't do something about that that's just sorry. I LOVE hardcore and brutal d but there's such a thing as wrong and that's the textbook definition of it. I took it as a badge of honor when they said Hines and James were the "dirtiest" players because they were really more "nasty" than "dirty". What Suh did is the purest form of dirty. Hines and James just hit people hard but I never saw them KICK people!

 

That play blew my mind. What a horrible rule.

As for Suh, there is no doubt in my mind that kick was intentional. It'll be interesting to see if anything comes of it.

 

The guy is a dirty player who has no respect, but this one would be tough to prove that it was intentional and wasn't just his momentum that caused it.

 

Yeah, it would be almost impossible to prove it was intentional but you can pretty clealry see he kicked and it wasn't just his momentum.

He is a dirty player for sure. They were talking about it at half time and were saying that you don't do **** like that out of respect for the brotherhood. I've never wished an injury on anyone before but I'd love to see someone drop him like a bad habit.

 

And it begins...

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap10...suhs-hit-on-matt-schaub-to-be-reviewed-by-nfl

 

I can see the unsportsmanlike conduct rule for making a challenge that you're not allowed to make. For example, you've used your challenges already and try to make another. They have a similar rule for trying to call an extra time out. So I get that part.

But what I don't get is why they didn't review the play. It seems to me unsportsmanlike conduct penatly is beside the point. Review the play, if it's a TD enforce the unsportsmanlike penalty on the KO. If it's not a TD, enforce the 15-yds, and it's 1st and 10 Texans. That to me would have been reasonable. And would have enforced all the rules.

 

Exactly.

Its like a double penalty. 15 yards plus you get screwed. There really is no valid reason to not have the review. Its complete Bullship and Im betting its one of those rules they tweak at the end of the year.

 

It might not even take until the end of the year to change the rule.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap10...considering-inseason-change-of-challenge-rule

 

That was quick.

 

Worst rule in football. Who cares if he challenged out of spot, give the team a 15 yard penalty, but don't refuse to review a play that would otherwise be automatically reviewed. Makes no sense. The priority should be about getting the call right, not punishing an idiot coach who doesn't know the rules.[/QUOTE]

100% Terrible rule!!!

 

So we now have at least 2 teams this season who's record is essentially wrong (Green Bay and now Detroit) because of bad calls.

 

And technically, he wasn't challenging the score, but rather that the player should've been called down by contact before he got up and ran. I didn't see him actually throw the flag, but I wonder if he had it on the ground prior to the score (not that it made a difference).

Stupid rule, regardless.