Tag: Dan Skipper

10 former Colts on AFC, NFC Championship rosters

10 former Colts are on the AFC, NFC Championship rosters.

As the playoffs heat up with the conference championship gets set for this weekend, the Indianapolis Colts will see a handful of former players taking part in the big games.

By our count, 10 former players across three of the teams donned the horseshoe at one point regardless of whether they were an early draft pick or a player on the practice squad.

Here’s a look at 10 former Colts players who are on the AFC and NFC Championship rosters:

Four former Hogs remain in NFL playoffs

Either Dre Greenlaw and Brandon Allen will make it or Frank Ragnow and Dan Skipper will. The former Arkansas football players will all play for a shot at the Super Bowl.

Either Frank Ragnow and Dan Skipper will get a shot or Dre Greenlaw and Brandon Allen will.

Those four former Arkansas football players all still remain in the NFL Playoffs, their teams set to play each other in the NFC Championship on January 28.

Ragnow and Skipper are offensive linemen for the Detroit Lions. The Lions made their first NFC Championship in franchise history when they beat Tampa Bay over the weekend.

Ragnow is considered one of the best, if not the best, center in the NFL. He’s been a starter for all six of his seasons with the Lions and been named to the Pro Bowl three times.

Skipper has been a back-up tackle for the Lions for most of the last six seasons. He played in all 16 games with five starts last year and played in 11 games with one start this year.

Greenlaw has been a linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers since 2019 and a starter every year. The 49ers have made the NFC title game four of the last five seasons, the same amount of time Greenlaw has been on the team.

Allen is a back-up quarterback for the Niners, as well. He did not see any time in the regular season and previously made his way to the Super Bowl with Cincinnati Bengals.

All four former Razorbacks played together in Fayetteville under coach Bret Bielema. Allen, the oldest, played from 2012-2015. Skipper joined in 2013 and played through 2016, while Ragnow and Greenlaw joined in 2015. Ragnow played two seasons before going pro whereas Greenlaw played four years at Arkansas.

The importance of heavy play-action, with Dan Campbell and Jared Goff

Jared Goff and the Lions have been wildly successful in the passing game with two old-school concepts, and the Rams’ defense needs to be hyper-aware.

Today’s NFL is a heavy-shotgun, quick-pass league in which most play-action passes do not come from under center in the traditional ways. But the Detroit Lions under head coach Dan Campbell, offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, and with quarterback Jared Goff, are decidedly old-school o their approach to play-fakes.

In the 2023 regular season, Goff used play-action from under center on 135 dropbacks, by far the most in the NFL. And on those plays, Goff completed 92 of 130 passes for 1,258 yards, 588 air yards, seven touchdowns, one interception, and a passer rating of 116.1.

Another old-school concept the Lions use in the passing game is the use of six offensive linemen. Of course, this cost the Lions their game against the Cowboys when referee Brad Allen got a bit confused as to the reporting rules for eligible receivers, but if you think that debacle got Campbell doing less of the 6OL stuff, that’s not the case — in fact, the Lions have been trolling enemy defenses with it more than ever before. In their regular-season finale against the Minnesota Vikings, the Lions put sixth offensive lineman Dan Skipper on the field for nine of Goff’s passing attempts, and on 17 offensive snaps overall.

“Oh, I thought it was great, man,” Campbell said after the Vikings game, when asked about the home crowd’s response to Skipper reporting as an eligible receiver. “Everybody loves Skip, right? That he reported, he was loud. I thought he was very clear on what he did and he got a ball out in the flat, thought he tucked it away ran up the sideline, so it was great. And look, let me say this, Brad, Head Official here, he worked our camp this year, he’s done a great job and he was great. I thought he handled everything really well, because that’s not easy to come in after what happened in Dallas and you’re going to be the guy in our game and he’s a pro. He has been and he was great with communication, so anyway everything was great. But yeah, I thought it was for the crowd to get up for Skip, that was good.”

But this is more than a gimmick. Against the Vikings, Goff completed eight of nine passes with six offensive linemen for 152 yards, 73 air yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions, and the highest possible passer rating of 158.3. His explosive plays out of 6OL personnel were completions of 34 and 70 yards to receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown against two different Vikings blitzes.

The first play, a 34-yard gain with 10:07 left in the first quarter, was a 34-yard gain in which Skipper’s release to the left flat opened up St. Brown’s boundary route to that side. This also had Goff’s under-center play-action fake to running back David Montgomery.

Then, there was Goff’s 70-yard touchdown to St. Brown; the first play of the fourth quarter. Another blitz from the Vikings (no surprise there), and this time, Skipper stayed in to help with the protection. You’ll notice that Goff used under-center play-action again (this time to running back Jahmyr Gibbs), and St. Brown got free to the boundary.

By the way — Matthew Stafford of the Rams has the NFL’s second-most dropbacks with under-center play-action, so you can expect to see a lot of this when the Lions and Rams face off on Sunday evening.

In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys get deeper into why the Lions are so successful with these concepts, and why some quarterbacks struggle with under-center play-action than you might expect.

You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os,” previewing every game in the wild-card slate, right here:

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You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.

Dan Skipper catches a pass and Lions nation loves it

Skipper’s catch resulted in the loudest cheer for a non-scoring play all afternoon.

One week ago, Dan Skipper was a central figure of the Brad Allen officiating gaffe in Dallas. Allen thought Skipper reported as an eligible receiver even though big No. 70 clearly did not.

On Sunday, Skipper did more than just declare as an eligible receiver. He ran a rout and caught a pass in this quarter of Detroit’s game against the Minnesota Vikings. Skipper gained four yards on the pass.

After losing tight end Sam LaPorta to injury earlier in the game, the Ford Field crowd needed a lift. Skipper’s catch resulted in the loudest cheer for a non-scoring play all afternoon.

Skipper also threw a nice block on David Montgomery’s touchdown run to cap the drive. The fans loved it.

Lions’ No. 70 Dan Skipper reports as eligible, catches pass

This week, No. 70 on the Lions was eligible and caught a pass, no problem

Dan Campbell can have a sense of humor a week after the officials’ blunder cost his Detroit Lions.

In Week 18, Campbell sent offensive lineman Dan Skipper — No. 70 — into the game with the Minnesota Vikings.

Skipper reported to the official that he would be an eligible player for a pass.

This time things went more smoothly than in Week 17 in Dallas.

Jared Goff threw a pass to Skipper, who caught it for a four-yard gain before being tackled.

NFL sends out video to teams proving referee Brad Allen screwed up the Lions-Cowboys game

NFL sends out video to teams proving referee Brad Allen screwed up the Lions-Cowboys game

By now, we all know that the Lions executed a two-point conversion successfully against the Cowboys in the closing seconds of their game last Saturday. Despite celebrating after the play call, the Lions were quickly reminded why they’re scapegoat of the league.

In this instance, NFL referee Brad Allen and his crew changed the ruling on the field and marked Lions offensive tackle Taylor Decker ineligible. In their ruling, they had stated that Decker didn’t report as eligible and instead, it was Lions offensive lineman Dan Skipper that reported as eligible. They even communicated that Skipper was ruled eligible.

However, there’s been photos and video evidence circulating that the Lions did everything right. Instead, it looks like Brad Allen and his team made a mistake. Despite communication before the game from Dan Campbell to the referees about a potential trick play or two, this two-point play was just assumed to be marked with Decker as ineligible.

Yesterday, Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network posted about communication that was sent from the NFL to head coaches and general managers. This communication was a video centered on the controversial finish between the Lions and the Cowboys.

Looking at the evidence the last several days, it’s becoming laughable at the little credibility being taken by the NFL and the officials after the outcome of this game. So since they simply want to blame the Lions, let’s review the evidence and talk this one out.

Going to the first quarter between the Cowboys and the Lions, you can clearly see Dan Skipper coming onto the field. While he’s coming onto the field, you can see wide receiver (No. 8) Josh Reynolds preparing to run off the field.

In the process, it appears to me that Dan Skipper isn’t checking into the game as eligible or ineligible. Instead, he’s indicating some type of strong or heavy package for the offense with how he’s flexing his left arm. Meanwhile, the head official, Brad Allen has his back to Skipper and just about the entire Lions offense.

To ensure we’re not losing our minds, the play above is what was called by Detroit for the 12:50 check-in from Dan Skipper. The Lions come out in their ’12’ personnel (one running back and two tight ends) but with Skipper playing as a tight end rather than an offensive lineman, it would be signaled as some type of “heavy” formation or personnel. That’s what it appeared to be in the picture from the NFL and when you watch the play, it appears to be just that.

The Lions run some type of Duo concept. The right guard and center combo block the defensive tackle that is heads up over the right guard and is aligned in a 2-technique. This play is designed for the running back to read the inside linebacker so he can bend, bang or bounce the run.

While the play wasn’t successful and was defended well by the Cowboys, it just goes to show that Skipper was the last man on the line-of-scrimmage (LOS). Tight end Sam LaPorta is off-the-line but both players are technically eligible to run routes. However, the photo and All-22 clip is just some of the evidence showing what the Lions did on that particular play.

Lastly, here’s the next example used by the NFL. It’s one of the final plays of the game and it’s the two-point play that the Lions used. Looking at the image above, we can see the exact same motion from Dan Skipper as he’s highlighted.

He’s jogging onto the field and is flexing his left arm. Again, that appears to be a signal for a “heavy” package. Just like the previous image, a wide receiver comes off the field. On the play above, it’s not Reynolds coming off the field but instead, it’s Kalif Raymond.

Additionally, I want you to look at referee Brad Allen on the far right of the picture. He’s looking at a group of Lions players and if you look close enough, you can see Lions offensive tackle Taylor Decker staring at Allen. Seconds later, not only is Taylor Decker giving the signal to Allen but Dan Skipper and Penei Sewell are all present for this exchange to Allen. Why is that important?

According to the video released by the NFL, their rule is stated as the following, “clearly communicated to the referee by both a physical signal up and down his chest and to report to the referee his intention to report as an eligible receiver.”

My questions are simple. For starters, what else is Decker, Skipper and Sewell supposed to do? They’ve all played the tackle-eligible roles for the Lions in their career. Decker has caught two touchdowns in his career in the exact same role and position he played against the Cowboys. Last season, Sewell caught a nine-yard pass against the Vikings and Skipper has played all over for the Lions on offense. 

Next, can we just make these referees full-time employees? It’s a billion dollar industry being ran like it’s a Dollar General. There’s 16 games a week with 7 officials per game, not per team but per game. Pay them accordingly and be done with this foolishness.

Lastly, can we stop using the Lions as the examples of the league? I know that Brad Allen reported “number 70 as eligible” but it’s quite clear he made a mistake. We all make mistakes but how is a mistake like this acceptable? Especially with all this technology we have for sports today. We can cut to a hundred commercials in a game and put cameras in the pylons but we can’t pull the audio from a referee that’s wearing a microphone the entire game?

Changes won’t be made this season but moving forward, they will. There will be changes made to support everyone else but for now, the Lions and their fan base have to live with the reality of “what if” as their potential reign towards the top of the NFC could be blemished by controversy.

Referee Brad Allen’s crew blew two more crucial calls late in Lions-Cowboys game

Referee Brad Allen didn’t just blow the Lions’ two-point conversion — he got two more calls wrong late in the game. Why is Allen still in the NFL?

NFL Referee Brad Allen had already been at the center of more controversy this season than any NFL referee should want. Then, there was the illegal touch pass called on the Detroit Lions with 27 seconds left in Saturday night’s game against the Dallas Cowboys. The two-point conversion that wasn’t likely came about because Allen and his crew got the offensive tackle reporting eligible wrong between Taylor Decker and Dan Skipper. Had Decker’s catch been legal as it should have been, the Lions would have had a 21-20 lead instead of a 20-19 deficit.

But we’ve already gone full Zapruder on that one.

Referee Brad Allen may have cost the Detroit Lions a win against the Dallas Cowboys

Now, let’s get into two more crucial calls Allen’s crew blew late in the game.

With 2:05 left in the game, Cowboys running back Tony Pollard hit a seven-yard gain on first-and-10 from the Detroit 29-yard line. This was the play after Jared Goff’s interception to safety Donovan Wilson, and at this point, the Cowboys could run the clock down and seal a victory up 17-13.

But Allen called tight end Peyton Hendershot for tripping, which negated the run and put the ball 15 yards back at the Detroit 44-yard line. Mike McCarthy’s three-play passing sequence, which took just 11 seconds off the clock, followed, and that was its own disaster. But let’s focus on the tripping call.

Here’s the All-22.

Hendershot was facing Lions edge-rusher Aidan Hutchinson on the play, and there was an attempt at tripping. But the overhead and end zone angles show that it was Hutchinson who made the attempt. On the overhead view, you can dee down judge Sarah Thomas throw the flag from the lower sideline. How Allen managed to extrapolate tripping on Hendershot is a mystery. Could Hendershot been busted for a hold? Maybe… but had this been called correctly, the worst that would have happened for the Cowboys was offsetting penalties and replaying the down. Not a 15-yard deficit that changed the complexion of the Cowboys’ drive.

Then, with 48 seconds left in the game, the Lions had second-and-10 at the Dallas 26-yard line. Receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown ran a seam route from the left slot, and he was clearly impeded by cornerback Jourdan Lewis — that’s a nice way of saying that Lewis was all over St. Brown before the ball got there. There was no call for pass interference. The Lions converted on the next play with a Goff pass to tight end Sam LaPorta which took the ball to the Dallas 11-yard line, but this was about as obvious a pass interference as you’ll ever see.

Now, go back to Allen’s performance in the Kansas City Chiefs’ 27-19 Week 13 loss to the Green Bay Packers. Allen’s crew clearly missed an obvious pass interference on Green Bay cornerback Carrington Valentine with 19 seconds left in the game, so we’ve seen these late-game issues before.

Referee Brad Allen embarrassed the NFL on Sunday night, and nothing will be done about it

As ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported in early December, Allen’s crew was already under scrutiny for a no-call the week before.

With 4:07 remaining in the second quarter, on second-and-9 at the Falcons’ 23-yard line, Saints quarterback Derek Carr threw a pass to running back Alvin Kamara, who was being defended by linebacker Kaden Elliss. The pass fell incomplete on a play in which Elliss never turned around to defend the ball, but Allen’s crew did not call pass interference.

The Superdome and the Saints organization were furious at the lack of a pass interference call on the play, which prompted the Saints to kick a field goal and trim their deficit to 14-9 with 3:54 remaining in the first half. The Saints (5-7) ultimately lost the game 24-15 and trail the first-place Falcons (6-6) in the NFC South.

Here’s that play, where you can see that Elliss was face-guarding Kamara and did not have his head turned to the ball. At the end of the overhead film, you can also see that this happened about five yards away from one of Allen’s officials.

Whatever this “increased scrutiny” was supposed to be, it certainly hasn’t helped matters.

So, we’re left with the larger discussion here. It’s time to focus out from which team Brad Allen may or may not have screwed in the Cowboys-Lions game. It’s time to ask whether Brad Allen is competent to officiate NFL games.

And the answer, clearly, is no.

Referee Brad Allen may have cost the Detroit Lions a win against the Dallas Cowboys

Brad Allen may have been the NFL’s worst referee this season, and right now, it looks as if he cost the Lions a win against the Cowboys

We at Touchdown Wire have had issues with referee Brad Allen before, and with good reason. And now, it’s entirely possible that Allen and his crew cost the Detroit Lions a win they should have had.

Here was the situation. The Lions went right down the field against the Dallas Cowboys down 20-19 starting with 1:41 left in the fourth quarter. The Lions had that much time because Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy called three straight passes before a field goal that put Dallas up 20-13. Dallas then gave quarterback Jared Goff all the soft coverage he could ever dream of having, which allowed Goff to drive his team downfield and hit receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown for an 11-yard touchdown with 27 seconds left.

Then, head coach Dan Campbell called for a two-point conversion, as is his wont, and it looked for all the world that Goff hit offensive tackle Taylor Decker in the end zone for the successful try that would have given the Lions a 21-20 lead. But Allen called an illegal touch pass on the play, saying that Decker didn’t report as an eligible receiver.

Lions head coach Dan Campbell said after the game,”70 [tackle Dan Skipper] reported, 68 [Decker] didn’t. That was the explanation.”

Well, here’s the problem with that. ESPN, who had the game, had clear video evidence of Goff telling Decker to report as eligible. And there is clear video evidence of Decker going over to do just that.

Longtime NFL offensive tackle and football analyst Mitchell Schwartz had an excellent blow-by-blow breakdown of what happened…. and what should have happened.

As Schwartz said, this would have been a legal formation had the eligibility not been in question. A nd you can see Allen running away from the tackles as they’re clearly trying to report as eligible.

“I’m guessing that Brad Allen, based on his mannerisms, and his eyes… where his hat is looking, he never recognized [Decker],” ESPN rules analyst and former NFL referee John Parry told ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt after the fact. “It’s not reviewable. What you need to do in that situation when the game is on the line… remember that the clock is stopped. You just had six points. So now, we’re going to go for two, so there’s no rush here, Take your time. Make sure you know who’s participating. They’re going for two. Slow everything down, make sure you have it correct. Make sure the defense knows who is eligible, and who is not. I think in this case, when you watch Brad, and his movements, and him focusing on No. 70 [Skipper], I don’t think that 68 [Decker] and Brad Allen ever connected.”

You could argue that it’s Decker’s responsibility to get Allen’s attention, but as Allen was running over to Dallas’ defense to let them know who was eligible. Decker thought Allen heard him.

Or… it could be even worse.

If that’s the case, Allen got the reporting lineman wrong.

Here’s the pool report, in which Allen appears to have gotten confused because Skipper had reported eligible to him earlier in the game.

And we now have a situation where one official is lying, or several members if the Detroit Lions are lying. That’s what Allen set up.

Allen probably isn’t lying — he’s going on his own incorrect interpretation of the situation and the rule. But given every other grievous error he’s made this season, Brad Allen should never be allowed to have this position in the NFL ever again.

It’s as simple as that.

Detroit Lions final injury report for Week 10 vs. the Los Angeles Chargers

The Lions head to Los Angeles with every starter ready to roll and just one player ruled out for Week 10

Coming out of the bye week, the Detroit Lions are as healthy as they can reasonably expect to be in Week 10. Only one player has been officially ruled out from Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers, with one other Lion doubtful for Week 10.

Offensive lineman Halapoulivaati Vaitai is out with a back injury. Vaitai was already replaced in the starting lineup at right guard by Graham Glasgow, but this makes the move academic. Vaitai missed the 2022 season with a back injury and subsequent surgery.

The player listed as doubtful is defensive lineman Levi Onwuzurike. He’s missed the last two practices with a hip issue. It’s unknown if Onwuzurike’s hip injury is related to his previous back injury. No player listed as doubtful and missing at least two days of practice has ever played during the Dan Campbell era, so consider Onwuzurike almost certain to be inactive in Los Angeles.

Two other reserves are listed as questionable. Lineman Dan Skipper and new wideout Donovan Peoples-Jones are both questionable with rib injuries.

No other players missed any practice time during the week, and none carry any injury designation into the trip to face the Chargers.

Best and worst PFF Grades from Lions Week 8 win against Raiders

Another week, another dominant performance for Dan Campbell and the Detroit Lions. In primetime in front of a national crowd, too.

Another week, another dominant performance for Dan Campbell and the Detroit Lions. In primetime in front of a national crowd, the Lions started out slow but caught fire at the end of the first half and used that to take full control in the second half.

With a dominant win comes some significant PFF scores.

The offense had plenty to be happy about, especially between the skill players. On defense, the front seven shined with someone even securing their highest grade of the season against the Raiders.