The much-anticipated Sunday Night Football game between the Lions and Eagles came to a disappointing finish when Detroit cornerback Rock Ya-Sin was controversially called for pass interference while guarding Philadelphia receiver A.J. Brown.
Leading up to the lackluster ending, the Eagles’ defense held the Lions’ often-explosive offense in check throughout much of the game while their offense took a 16-6 lead early in the fourth quarter. After stuffing two straight Eagles tush push attempts later in the quarter, the Lions managed to get another field goal on the board to with 1:58 remaining and all three timeouts to make it a one-score game. If they could get the ball back, they’d have the opportunity to drive down and attempt to score a game-tying touchdown.
The Lions appeared to do just that. Detroit kept the Eagles from gaining a first down on either of their first and second down rushing attempts, and on third-and-8, Jalen Hurts threw an incomplete pass while targeting Brown.
However, Ya-Sin ended up getting flagged for pass interference. Not only did this cost the Lions to receive the ball back with over 1:40 left, but also the Eagles were handed a fresh set of downs which they managed to convert this time to end the game.
There is just no way that this is game-ending pass interference on the #Lions.
Wow. pic.twitter.com/7ZoNX9sBpL
— Arye Pulli (@AryePulliNFL) November 17, 2025
The call, especially in that big of a moment, felt so egregious that NBC analyst Cris Collinsworth even said, “Oh, come on. Come on! That is terrible. That is an absolutely terrible call that's gonna decide this football game. If anything, it's an offensive push.”
Lions head coach Dan Campbell was asked about the pass interference call after the game. “I thought he played defense like he did the whole game,” Campbell said. “I thought he challenged and played it like he did the very first rep that we played man to man. I wouldn't tell him to do anything different. Get up and challenge, play your style, that’s it.”
Referee Alex Kemp explained the flag in the pool report following the matchup. “The official observed the receiver’s arm getting grabbed and restricting him from going up to make the catch,” Kemp said. “So, the ball was in the air, there was a grab at the arm, restricted him and he called defensive pass interference.”
The pass interference flag took away from what was a nice performance for Ya-Sin as he went up against one of the league’s top receivers in Brown. Per Next Gen Stats, Ya-Sin held Brown to four receptions for 39 yards while also impressively keeping Brown in tight coverage.
In his third start of the season, Rock Ya-Sin faced off against A.J. Brown 19 times, allowing 4 receptions for 39 yards on 8 targets.
Ya-Sin spent 19.4 seconds within 1 yard of Brown, the 2nd-most time in tight coverage Brown has faced in a matchup in his career.#DETvsPHI |… pic.twitter.com/232ifDQbO1
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) November 17, 2025
Ultimately, the Lions’ offense cost itself by not playing better over the entirety of the game. The Lions controlled the clock for under 25 minutes of the game, converted none of their five fourth-down attempts while Jared Goff completed just 14 of 37 passes. Even if the Lions did get the ball back, there’s a strong chance they wouldn’t have been able to go down and tie up the game, but the referees should not have interfered with their opportunity to do so.
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