Getty Dan Campbell looks on as the Lions play the Browns in 2021.
The Detroit Lions had a bizarre penalty play out on Sunday afternoon in their 13-10 loss to the Cleveland Browns, and it ended up being very costly by the time the end of the game rolled around.
In between the third and fourth quarter, Detroit was on the move after scoring a touchdown and getting a stop on defense. Before the start of the fourth quarter, referee Clay Martin came to the microphone and announced that Detroit had been penalized 15 yards for a personal foul after the play on offensive guard Jonah Jackson.
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Most folks didn’t understand how the Lions could get a foul after the play in between the quarters, but Dan Campbell explained in the postgame press conference to reporters including Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press that it was a direct result of some trash talk in between the lines on the field that crossed the line and referred to a mother.
Dan Campbell said Jonah Jackson was penalized for saying something about someone’s mother. Costly penalty in between periods
Funny as that may sound, the Lions were on the move and trailing 13-7 at that point. After the play, the Lions had to punt the ball back to Cleveland, and lost 13-10. That drive may have been the difference in an eventual go-ahead score or another potential tie late in the game, meaning it was a very costly comment to make for Jackson and the Lions.
Campbell: ‘Lots of Talking’ Happened Between Lions and Browns
It might be shocking to some to hear that trash talk about a mother in an NFL game managed to draw a flag, but as Campbell explained after the game, there had been lots of talking and things being said on the field, and this particular comment managed to draw the flag.
“I got an explanation, but I don’t know what to tell you. It was something that was said, it was something about somebody’s mother. There was a lot of talking going on out there, but it was a penalty,” Campbell said to the media after the game.
Obviously, Jackson needs to show some composure in a big way next time he is in this situation. No matter how much talk is going on, players have to realize that words can hurt the team.
Jackson’s Career Stats & Highlights
While he may not have been an All-Pro, Pro Bowler or earned any type of accolades for his play thus far, that doesn’t change the fact that Jackson has been a strong player for the Lions since he joined the team last season. Perhaps most significantly, Jackson started 16 games as a rookie and was a load up front for the Lions considering his ability to play solid football. It’s not often that the Lions have a young lineman capable of playing a starting role right off the bat while not looking out of place in the league, but that’s just what Jackson brought to the mix for the team as a rookie in 2020.
Here’s some tape of Jackson from college:
While he was a first-year man out of college, Jackson showed the kind of toughness and grit that could make him a fixture in the NFL. That’s something which his teammates see, and he has been said to have a cocky, confident edge to his play before.
This week, it may have cost the Lions due to an ill-timed comment.
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