IRVING, Tex. — It will probably be a play that will be debated for years. All it needs is a nickname. The phantom flag or the flag that wasn’t.

There is no doubt an overturned 21-yard penalty against Cowboys linebacker Anthony Hitchens had a huge impact on the Cowboys’ 24-20 victory over the Detroit Lions on Sunday. Dean Blandino, the NFL’s head of officials, said Monday that officials should have penalized Hitchens for defensive holding. Hitchens grabbed tight end Brandon Pettigrew’s jersey on a third-and-1 play in the fourth quarter.

The back judge initially called a foul for defensive pass interference, which Blandino said was a “judgment call that could have gone either way.” Referee Pete Morelli initially announced the penalty against Hitchens, and the ball was marked at the spot of the foul.

But the 21-yard penalty soon was overturned with little explanation from Morelli. A defensive holding penalty is only five yards but would have given the Lions an automatic first down at the Dallas 41.

The Lions ended up punting, and the Cowboys drove for the winning touchdown in a victory that sends them to Green Bay for divisional playoffs.

Cowboys coach Jason Garrett didn’t want to talk about the play anymore on Monday. He didn’t want the play to take away from what the Cowboys accomplished in getting their first playoff win since 2009.

“I want to be really respectful about this answer, and I’ll get to what my answer is,” Garrett said. “But we’re talking about the wrong stuff. We’re talking about officiating after a game. I would like to think that I would say that when the call goes against us, and certainly want to say it when the call goes for us. There’s a lot of calls in a game that impact the game, and we never really try to get caught up with those as coaches and players. You try to play and coach the game to the best of your ability. There’s a lot of great things that happened in that ball game yesterday, and I think a lot of people are talking about the wrong things. You talk about what happened during the game, and the positive things that happened for our football team, how good a football team they are and the battle that we went through and the challenge that we went through to have to win that game.”

But Garrett remains adamant that calls can be questioned on both sides in every game. He said the official closest to the play overruled the official who threw the flag from several yards away.

“These guys are pros and great at what they do,” Garrett said of the officials. “We have a really healthy respect for them, but that’s my only frustration with it. The guy who is closest, I believe, more times than not, should call the play. They don’t ask the first-base umpire to call balls and strikes. He calls the plays at first, right? He rarely steps in and says, ‘I think that thing painted the black over here.’ He doesn’t have a great view of it. The guy behind the plate does. That’s always been my gripe about situations like this.”

All the Cowboys care about now is getting ready for the Packers, although the debate will rage on.

“We’re going to get ready for the next challenge,” Garrett said. “We recognize what that challenge is going up to Green Bay. It’s a great football team, plays really well at their place.”

–The Cowboys will head to Green Bay for a playoff game for the first time since the 1967 Ice Bowl. And they will go as a confident group, riding a five-game winning streak and an undefeated road record (8-0) in 2014.

As much as they were excited about the wild-card victory over the Lions, the Cowboys are not satisfied.

“This group, we expect that,” tight end Jason Witten said. “It’s not an over-confidence or anything like that, but it’s a humble group that believes they can win, and I think we’ve just kind of been that way all year. We kinda put our head down and stay together and work our tails off and then go play that way.”

The Packers are undefeated at home just like the Cowboys have been perfect on the road.

“I think obviously it’s going to be a tough game,” Romo said. “They’re outstanding. Green Bay is as good as we’ve gone against offensively, and they’re playing really good defensive football, too. It’s going to be a great challenge. I do know that this is the kind of game you want to be playing in, though, and we have the kind of football team where I’m very confident has a good chance to go up there and play a good game.”

REPORT CARD VS. LIONS

–PASSING OFFENSE: B — Quarterback Tony Romo wasn’t perfect in completing 19 of 31 passes for 293 yards with two touchdowns and a passer rating of 114.0. He was sacked six times and had some errant throws early. But Romo was mistake-free with no interceptions and he was clutch when it mattered most.

–RUSHING OFFENSE: C — The Cowboys had trouble running early against the Lions defense. DeMarco Murray had 75 yards on 19 carries. He had eight carries for 38 yards and a touchdown in the third quarter.

–PASS DEFENSE: B — The Cowboys gave up just one big play early: a 51-yard touchdown pass to Golden Tate. But they shut him down over the final three quarters and contained Calvin Johnson. Quarterback Matt Stafford was sacked three times and intercepted once.

–RUSH DEFENSE: B — The Lions had 90 yards on 22 carries. However, 65 yards came in the first quarter so they garnered just 25 over the final three quarters as the Cowboys’ defense shut them down.

–SPECIAL TEAMS: C — The Cowboys allowed the Lions to complete a 99-yard touchdown drive because of a running-into-the-kicker penalty on a punt after getting off the field on third down. Dan Bailey missed a chip-shot field goal, though he made a 51-yarder. Chris Jones averaged 48 yards on four punts.

–COACHING: A — The Cowboys rallied from 14-0 and 17-7 deficits. They played their best late and they didn’t fall apart. This team has mental toughness.