Joey Harrington reacts in the closing minute of the Lions' loss to the Bucs. Doug Benc/Getty Images
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FOXBORO, Mass. -- If I'm the Detroit Lions, I'm outraged this morning. Outraged. Because if I'm Steve Mariucci, Matt Millen, Bill Ford, Marcus Pollard, whoever, I'm saying: Instant replay beat us on Sunday. Not the Bucs. Replay.

I didn't see the play in question live. I heard about it in the press box after San Diego's rout of the Patriots here in Foxboro. I heard about it in the typical way we sportswriters joke about losers? Hey, hear about the Lions? They beat Tampa Bay, but replay reversed the winning touchdown. Typical Lions.

Totally unfair. The Lions, on the road, played well enough to beat an undefeated team. They shut down the league's leading rusher, Cadillac Williams, holding him to 13 yards on 11 carries and beat him up in the process. From watching the highlights and examining the play-by-play, Detroit played well. Not good enough to win resoundingly, but good enough to be in a tight game either team could have won.

With 5:14 left, the Lions got the ball at their 7-yard line, trailing 17-13. They began an inexorable 17-play drive, moving to the Bucs' 12-yard line with 20 seconds left. It was second-and-1. Quarterback Joey Harrington threw a pass to tight end Marcus Pollard in the right side of the end zone. Pollard caught the ball as his kneecap was sliding inches from the thick white boundary line. The official on the spot ruled the catch was good, that the knee didn't go over the line until after Pollard had possession.

The replay official, James Wilson, can decide which plays are to be reviewed in the last two minutes of each half. He decided to review this play. So referee Gerry Austin went under the black hood of the replay machine on the sideline and examined the play for a minute and 53 seconds.

In the NFL Digest of Rules, the system of replay is reviewed. And there is one overriding rule about replay, one rule of paramount importance. This is the sentence that should be the beacon, the guiding light, for every referee in the NFL:

"A decision will be reversed only when the referee has indisputable visual evidence available to him that warrants the change.''

That's my bold type. But the league italicized the "indisputable visual evidence'' part of it. In other words, they want to be sure that if the referee is going to change the call, there is absolutely no chance the call on the field is correct.

I looked at this play seven times on four different ESPN highlight shows on Sunday night and early this morning. Seeing it quickly, it appears Pollard's knee slid out of bounds as he caught the ball. Seeing it in slow-motion, it appears that first impression is wrong. Appears, I say, because there's no definitive proof. It appears Pollard catches the ball and when the replay is frozen, the kneecap is maybe six inches from the sideline -- but definitely not touching the sideline. Pollard is not juggling the ball as his knee slides over the line.