GREEN BAY, Wis. — Dez Bryant thought it was a catch. The Dallas Cowboys’ All-Pro receiver thought it might be a touchdown.

However, referee Gene Steratore overturned what was initially ruled a 31-yard reception that would have set up the Cowboys with a first-and-goal and the 1 because Bryant did not maintain possession while stretching out toward the end zone.

“Although the receiver is possessing the football, he must maintain possession of that football throughout the entire process off the catch,” Steratore said Sunday after the Packers held on for a 26-21 win in the divisional playoff game at Lambeau Field.

“In our judgment, he maintained possession but continued to fall and never had another act common to the game. We deem that by our judgment to be the full process of the catch, and at the time, he lands and the ball hits the ground. It comes loose as it hits the ground, which would make that incomplete; although he repossesses it, it does contact the ground when he reaches so the repossession is irrelevant. It was ruled an incomplete pass when we had the ball hit the ground.”

The fourth-and-2 play came with Dallas trailing the Green Bay Packers by five points, and Steratore said the call was clear to him and the replay officials in New York.

“I ain’t never seen anything like it,” Bryant said.

NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino said via Twitter that the rule — and ruling — made the call clear: “Bryant going to the ground. By rule he must hold onto it throughout entire process of contacting the ground. He didn’t so it is incomplete.”

The replay showed multiple angles of the ball hitting the ground, according to Steratore.

“They didn’t see it the way I saw it,” coach Jason Garrett said after the game.

Garrett said the explanation given to him was that Bryant’s move after leaping to secure the ball with both hands at the 5-yard line over Packers cornerback Sam Shields was not “common to the game.”

“That,” Garrett said with a grimace, “was surprising to me.”

The call was similar to a touchdown reception by Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson in Chicago in 2010. Steratore was the official in that game, and he overturned the score upon review because Johnson did not maintain possession of the ball through the end of the play.

It was the second playoff game in a row for the Cowboys in which a critical call by officials shifted momentum and possession of the ball. Dallas benefited from what the NFL admitted was a blown call in the wild-card round against the Lions, when a flag for pass interference was picked up, forcing Detroit to punt in the fourth quarter.

The Lions’ official Twitter feed offered no sympathy for the Cowboys, writing “Sorry @dallascowboys. We know the feeling: #CompletingTheProcess.”