Lions visit Cowboys in return to scene of disputed 2-point call
Dan Campbell can always count the way he enjoys the closest thing he has to a homecoming when he visits the Dallas Cowboys.
The Detroit coach and Texas native might add a wink and a nod for this return, about nine months after the Lions had a 2-point conversion incorrectly penalized in the final seconds of a 20-19 loss that cost them a shot at the top seed in the NFC.
Campbell isn't ignoring the narrative of revenge. He's not really foaming at the mouth, either, heading into Sunday's game at AT&T Stadium.
The Lions have started 3-1 in consecutive seasons for the first time in a decade, and the Cowboys (3-2) have stabilized after an alarming pair of home losses by winning twice on the road.
"You've got to keep your head about you no matter what it is, and I think each game, you can always find something," said Campbell, who was born and raised less than 100 miles from Dallas and played three of his 10 NFL seasons with the Cowboys. "There are reasons behind why you want to win them, and you find what those are and they're different every week."
Last Dec. 30, the Lions had just driven 75 yards to a touchdown with 23 seconds left when Campbell decided to go for 2, using a tackle-eligible play he says he told officials about before the game.
Lineman Taylor Decker caught the pass for an apparent 21-20 lead, but officials ruled that Dan Skipper had reported as eligible and Decker had not. Quarterback Jared Goff was certain the opposite was true.
Goff threw an interception on the second attempt, but the Cowboys were offsides. The third attempt was an incomplete pass short of the goal line.
The crazy sequence wasn't the first thing reporters asked about Goff this week, but that's only because he set an NFL record in his most recent game by completing all 18 of his passes in a 42-29 victory over Seattle. Detroit was off last week.
It didn't take the media long to get back to the play that helped drop the Lions to the third seed. They lost the NFC championship game at San Francisco.
"I don't want to dwell on something that was eight months ago or whatever," said Goff, who has lost to the Cowboys at AT&T Stadium in each of the past two seasons. "I think it was just a mistake that the officials made, and it happens. I don't think we take it personally.
"I think it's more on the lines (of) we haven't beaten these guys two years in a row and that's more in our heads of like, 'All right, it's time to try and stop that,'" Goff said.
Dallas coach Mike McCarthy was even less interested in revisiting the odd ending.
"There's been a lot of football since last year," said McCarthy, whose team blew its good fortune by losing a home wild-card playoff game to Green Bay two weeks later. "I have not looked at our last year game. I'm really focused on what they've done this year."
Goff's overall streak of completions is 19 after he broke Kurt Warner's previous single-game mark of 10. He also set the record for passing yards without an incompletion at 292, more than 100 yards better than the previous high set by Frank Filchock in 1939.
Goff is six consecutive completions shy of the overall NFL record of 25 shared by Nick Foles, Marcus Mariota, Philip Rivers and Ryan Tannehill. Foles, Mariota and Rivers each did it in 2018, Tannehill three years earlier.
"I've had games where I feel even better, and things are clicking even more," Goff said. "I think we can get there. We can do even better and continue to improve."
Both teams appear set for reinforcements from players who have missed time because of injuries or illness.
Frank Ragnow, Detroit's three-time Pro Bowl center, and safety Brian Branch were out against the Seahawks. Ragnow has a pectoral injury, and Branch was dealing with an illness.
Dallas cornerback DaRon Bland, who set an NFL record with five interception returns for touchdowns last season, could make his season debut. Bland had surgery for a stress fracture in his foot late in the preseason.
Bland's replacement, rookie Caelen Carson, could return after missing two games with a shoulder injury.
The Cowboys figure to be without star pass rusher Micah Parsons for a second consecutive week because of a high ankle sprain. It's the first time Parsons has been sidelined by injury since Dallas drafted the two-time All-Pro 12th overall in 2021.
What was shaping up as a mismatch of rushing offenses might be a little less so.
The Lions have one of the league's best tandems in David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs, and they're 7-0 when both score at least one rushing touchdown in a game.
Rico Dowdle had his best game with the Cowboys against the Steelers as Dallas finally gave quarterback Dak Prescott some help in last week's 20-17 victory over Pittsburgh.
Dowdle had 20 carries for 87 yards with 114 scrimmage yards against the Steelers, all career highs. Ezekiel Elliott, who rejoined the Cowboys in the offseason after a year away from the team with which he won two rushing titles, has 20 carries in the past four games combined.
"Our approach to the game this week will probably be similar to last week," McCarthy said.