NFL decided against intervening on possible Chiefs penalty on Lions’ Hail Mary pass

Al Riveron was a busy man Sunday during the Chiefs’ 34-30 win at Detroit.

Riveron is the senior vice president of officiating for the NFL, and he shared rulings on Twitter on the Lions touchdown catch that was taken off the board and the 100-yard fumble return for a touchdown by the Chiefs’ Bashaud Breeland.

Both plays upset Lions fans, and a few were irked that pass interference wasn’t called on the Hail Mary pass from Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford that ended the game.

Chiefs fans may have thought nothing of the play, which ended with rookie Juan Thornhill knocking the ball down.

But some in Detroit wondered why there wasn’t a flag for Lions receiver Marvin Jones being knocked to the field.

Here is the play:

According to multiple reports, Riveron took a look at the play in question but decided against taking action.

ESPN’s Mike Rothstein reported: “The play was reviewed by the league’s VP of officiating, Al Riveron, and it was determined there was no need to stop the game to initiate the formal review process.”

Had a penalty been called after a review, the Lions would have had an untimed down at the 5-yard line.

This is from the Pro Football Talk story: “Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce told PFT by phone after the game that he wouldn’t have been surprised by such an outcome, given the crazy, unpredictable way that the game unfolded.”

Rich McKay, the chairman of the NFL’s competition committee, said earlier this year officials would be more lenient on Hail Mary plays.

“In that play, officiating-wise, the philosophy has been since I have been in the League, it is survival of the fittest,” McKay said. “Everybody jumps. Everybody is shoving, everybody is trying to get the ball, knock it down, or catch it. We tell the officials, make sure you see if anybody gets pulled down or anybody gets dragged down, that is pass interference.

“Otherwise, it is a different play than any other play we have because there are multiple receivers and multiple defensive players in a common area. So, we have to define it. But then otherwise, it is not one that we want to include in the system because we really don’t want our games to end on review. That is not the object.”

This story was originally published September 30, 2019 at 1:08 PM with the headline "NFL decided against intervening on possible Chiefs penalty on Lions’ Hail Mary pass."