President Obama Comments on Controversial Play in Lions vs. Cowboys

Numerous Detroit Lions fans will argue that officials played a major role in the 24-20 Wild Card Game loss to the Dallas Cowboys. United States President Barack Obama is in their corner.

President Obama weighed in Tuesday on the reversed fourth-quarter pass-interference call in Sunday's playoff showdown at AT&T Stadium, per The Detroit News' David Shepardson:

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Obama watched the Lions game and told The Detroit News in a Tuesday interview he couldn't 'remember a circumstance in which a good call by one of the refs is argued about by an opposing player of the other team with his helmet off on the field, which in and of itself is supposed to be a penalty. The call is announced and then reversed without explanation. I haven't seen that before—so I will leave it up to the experts to make the judgment as to why that happened—but I can tell you if I was a Lions fan I'd be pretty aggravated.'

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The commander in chief certainly knows his stuff as far as football terminology is concerned.

Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant protested the pass-interference penalty on his teammate, Anthony Hitchens, who was left in man coverage against athletic Lions tight end Brandon Pettigrew.

Bryant did so by running well onto the field without a helmet. Such an act could have been punishable by a 15-yard unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty. It came following a critical third down as the Lions were driving in Cowboys territory.

Nevertheless, Dallas did control most of the second half and needed a clutch, game-winning touchdown throw from oft-criticized quarterback Tony Romo to pull off the victory. Detroit declined after seizing a 17-7 halftime lead.

NFL.com's Gregg Rosenthal observed how well Dallas finished:

That President Obama, albeit a widely known sports fan, decided to offer his take on this particular play shows just how significant it was. It's bound to create even more polarization surrounding America's Team.

The Cowboys will travel to Lambeau Field and face the Green Bay Packers in Sunday's divisional-round action. Dallas had a perfect 8-0 record on the road in the regular season, including a 30-23 Week 6 win over the defending-champion Seattle Seahawks.