NFL officials call non-existent facemask penalty on critical Lions 3rd down

In the third quarter of Saturday’s NFC Divisional Round playoff game, Washington Commanders linebacker Dante Fowler Jr. got penalized for a facemask on David Montgomery on a Detroit Lions third down. However, replays showed Fowler never grabbed the facemask.

Fowler went to bring Montgomery down to set up fourth down, and he appeared to grab the shoulder pad. Initially, the FOX broadcast team of Kevin Burkhardt and Tom Brady thought it was a facemask, as well. But after viewing the replay, Brady saw where Fowler’s hand ended up.

The Lions went on to score on the drive to make it a one-score game. It was another twist in the back-and-forth affair at Ford Field.

Commanders called for a facemask penalty even though it clearly wasn't pic.twitter.com/U87caQAZzc

— Rate the Refs (@Rate_the_Refs) January 19, 2025

From there, though, the Commanders roared back. Washington scored 14 unanswered points after that drive to take full control of the Divisional Round game and get ready to punch its ticket to the NFC Championship behind Jayden Daniels.

Daniels put on a show in the first half, completing 14 of 21 passes for 242 yards and two touchdowns while adding 29 rushing yards on the ground to help lead the charge as the Commanders took a 31-21 lead into the locker room at Ford Field. Those numbers increased to 21-of-30 passing for 279 yards, along with the two scores, as Washington’s lead grew.

On the Lions side, Jared Goff struggled mightily. He completed 23 of 40 passes for 313 yards and a touchdown, but also threw three costly interceptions – including a pick-six, which resulted in a brief injury. But that play also received some backlash toward the officials.

To FOX’s Mike Pereira, he saw Frankie Luvu hit a defenseless player as Goff went to make a tackle. That’s why he thought the referees needed to throw a flag and call a penalty. Instead, the touchdown stayed on the board as the Commanders and Lions combined to score 42 points in the second quarter.

“The key is here that you have an interception, of course,” Pereira said on the broadcast. “And at that point, then, after the interception, during the entire play, the quarterback is considered defenseless. You can block him if he pursues the play, but you can’t hit him in the head or neck area, which Luvu did. So this should have been called, which would’ve resulted with the ball still live – a 15-yard penalty from the 5-yard line.”