In a dramatic moment during the Detroit Lions’ game against the Kansas City Chiefs, quarterback Jared Goff thought he had pulled off a dazzling trick-play touchdown reception. Instead, it was wiped off the board by a confusing and controversial illegal-motion penalty.
Goff’s reaction was as candid as it was frustrated. After the game he admitted, “I’ve never heard this, but they were saying that as close as I was to the center that then declares me as a quarterback, and then I can’t go in motion.” The rule in question: because Goff lined up directly behind center, he was technically in a quarterback posture under the rules, and moving in motion without pausing violated the specific NFL motion provision.
Head coach Dan Campbell took full responsibility for the mix-up, saying he failed to provide the necessary clarity around the rule to his team. Meanwhile the timing of the flag raised eyebrows: replay shows the Lions on the sideline celebrating the score, only for the penalty to be announced after the fact.
For the Lions, the moment stung not just because of the lost points, but because it illustrated a bigger issue: execution and understanding of situational football at the highest level. Goff, evidently surprised by the interpretation, shared that the team had run the play but didn’t recognize the hidden nuance of the motion rule. The result: six points erased, momentum dampened, and questions raised about preparation.
In the end, the flag didn’t decide the game’s outcome, but it encapsulated a key lesson for an opportunistic Lions squad: when you craft something bold and it works, you must also account for every technical detail. Because in the NFL, sometimes it’s the little things that erase the big things.
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Goff’s Trick-Play TD Erased: ‘Never Heard This Rule’ QB Blasts Flag vs. Chiefs
