Did Jalen Ramsey sell that final OPI? That’s the hot question buzzing on every Lions fan’s mind after their Week 16 game. It hit just a few plays before Amon-Ra St. Brown‘s wild lateral to Jared Goff for what appeared to be a miracle. However, the game was paused as the officials went into an endless review before imposing the final two OPI penalties on the Lions offense. When St. Brown was asked whether his opponent flopped the action that led to the penalty, his response was pure class, refusing to finger-point.

“Look, we got a PI on them, Jamo did on that drive, so we got a call, they got a call,” Brown told the reporters. “At the end of the day, the refs have a job to do, and they’re trying their best to do it, and we have a job as players to go out there and make plays. And we didn’t make enough plays today.”

In the fourth quarter, Goff connected with St. Brown for a pass on fourth-and-goal, who caught it just short of the goal line. Like true cinema, with a wild lateral flip, he handed the ball back to Goff, who hurled himself across the end zone just before the time expired. Touchdown. Game Over. The Lions won. 

That’s what 65,000 fans thought.

It turns out the officials flagged the Lions WR St. Brown just seconds before Goff reached the goal line. The penalty was for shoving Pittsburgh CB Ramsey to escape before catching the short pass from Goff. As per the NFL rule, the game-winning score was negated by the OPI penalty imposed on Brown, taking away Detroit’s hard-earned feat. Ref Carl Cheffers explained the call on St. Brown in a conversation with PFWA pool reporter Nolan Bianchi. He revealed it was imposed for shoving Ramsey to gain separation, which helped the receiver catch the pass.

Interestingly, that was the only pass interference penalty called on the Lions that night. Just four plays before that, there was another ghost on first-and-goal from the 1, called against Isaac TeSlaa for a rub route that made it possible for St. Brown to score what should’ve been an easy TD. This is the first time in three decades that a team has been imposed with two OPI penalties in the final 30 seconds. Yet, head coach Dan Campbell believes the calls weren’t the real reason Detroit lost Week 16. 

“We weren’t able to close it out. And at the end of the day, that’s on us,” Campbell said. “We did that. We’re the ones who put ourselves in that position to where we had to try to score on the last play.”

As frustrating as this defeat was, the Lions HC believes it’s pointless to “feel sorry for yourself.” However, star quarterback Goff wasn’t too forgiving.

Jared Goff’s raw take on Amon-Ra St. Brown and Isaac TeSlaa’s OPI penalties 

Unlike St. Brown, Goff was a bit spicier. Despite having a three-touchdown and 356-yard performance, when he couldn’t see his team succeed, he couldn’t hold off his frustration. Without mincing his words, he said the OPI penalty was a “bad call.” He had similar thoughts on the penalty on TeSlaa, believing it was “up for interpretation.”

“[The officials] have a hard job, and I don’t want to make any excuses or anything like that,” he said post-game. “I think a few plays prior, the one on TeSlaa was a little bit more in my head up for interpretation, but listen, man, they’re going to make the calls, and I promise you if I was sitting on the other side of that right now, we’d be saying, ‘Great job,’ but those sting for sure and you wish they weren’t called, but so be it.”

Except for Goff, the Lions have pretty much accepted their reality. They still have two games remaining, even if there’s just a 6% chance of making the postseason. If they’re going to make it count, Detroit needs to fix the rushing game that struggled for mere 15 yards in Week 16; meanwhile, their opponent posted 230 rushing yards.