Lions favor reform to NFL's review system

The proposal failed, and even if it passed, it wouldn't have helped Monday against the Seahawks when the officials didn't penalize Seattle linebacker K.J. Wright for illegally batting the ball out of the end zone, a call that would have given the Lions the ball at the 1.

Now, the Lions hope league officials find a way to reform their review system in a way that won't keep altering the outcome of games.

"You do feel like when you look back at what happened in Dallas and you look back at this, you kind of feel like, 'Why does this always happen to Detroit? Why do they treat us like this?'" Lions safety Glover Quin said Wednesday.

"We've just got to make sure that we're blowing teams out so those calls don't even affect it."

Although the Lions had their rule change dismissed by owners, coach Jim Caldwell still supports changing the review process.

"We have the technology to do so," he said. "It's not the ice age."

Arians: More calls determining outcome of games

As frustrated as the team was by the missed call, Caldwell and the players are trying to move on and focus on the Cardinals.

Caldwell, however, was asked to explain why he didn't yell at the officials when they missed the call.

"I think the fans — at least the ones that I know of and hear from and etc. — are more interested in us winning than any great pronouncement of some sort," Caldwell said. "That's the key. If we win, these aren't issues, and we've got to do a better job of what we do."

Said Quin: "You can't do anything about it. You could have the whole team fussing, cussing, cussing everybody out, and at the end of the day, we're still going to be 0-4."

The Lions aren't the only team on the wrong end of officiating errors.

When the Cardinals lost to the Rams last weekend, St. Louis running back Todd Gurley lost a fumble that would have given the Cardinals the ball inside the 10. The play, however, was ruled dead.

Arizona coach Bruce Arians said in teleconference he supported the Patriots proposal last offseason to make all plays reviewable.

Lions receiver Calvin Johnson, who fumbled the ball on the play Monday, said he doesn't know if that would work because it would take too much time.

Many players, including Johnson, were unfamiliar with the bat rule. Arians said he knew it was illegal when he saw it happen, but didn't know all the details. Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford said he knew the rule, but didn't see the bat since he was watching Johnson.

"We're in the business of winning, and it really does nothing for us to do that," Stafford said. "I know it's hard to imagine as a fan probably, but fans don't have to suit up and play. So, we have to use all of our mental and physical energy at this point on an Arizona team, and they're a good football team."

Quin agreed the NFL needs some kind of reform to the review process to help get as many calls as possible right.

"I don't understand how certain things are reviewable and certain things aren't," Quin said. "If you're looking at it, if you see something that's not right, it's hard to go to sleep at night knowing that something probably could've been done, but it's not reviewable or whatever so you just let it go."

jkatzenstein@detroitnews.com

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