Vikings-Rams 'Thursday Night Football' game ends with blatant missed face-mask penalty
The Los Angeles Rams' final blow in a 30-20 win over the Minnesota Vikings on Thursday had a rather obvious missed call.
Down eight points with 1:46 left and no timeouts, the Vikings had to travel 95 yards for a TD and make a two-point conversion just to send the game to overtime. They did not get very far, as Rams linebacker Byron Young beat two blockers to sack Sam Darnold and score a safety.
However, it was pretty clear just watching the play that Young had taken Darnold down by grabbing and yanking his face mask, which should have provided new life for the Vikings with a 15-yard penalty.
Further replay only cemented how bad of a missed call this was. Darnold's head was pulled 90 degrees to the left as he was taken down:
Three replay angles, tough scene. Feel like the proactive reviews should be able to call this pic.twitter.com/VUpU2C4usk
— Vikings Blogger (@firstandskol) October 25, 2024
Unfortunately, missed face-mask penalties are not reviewable.
The penalty was so obvious that Young grabbed his head after the play as if he had made a mistake, rather than seal the game for Los Angeles. The Rams instead received two points and the ball, kneeling out the clock to end what had been a rare competitive "Thursday Night Football" game.
You know it's a bad mistake when the officials don't even try denying it after the game. Speaking with a pool reporter, referee Tra Blake basically said none of the officials actually saw Young taking down Darnold:
"Well, on that play, the quarterback was facing the opposite direction from me so I did not have a good look at it. I did not have a look, and I did not see the facemask being pulled, obviously. The umpire had players between him and the quarterback, so he did not get a look at it. He was blocked out as well. So that was the thing, we did not see it so we couldn't call it. We couldn't see it."
The Vikings' players and coaches were visibly unhappy as the replay was shown, and some NFL players watching weren't thrilled either:
Can’t see a facemask 3 feet in front of them, but we want refs to decide what is and isn’t a “hip drop” tackle in real time.
????— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) October 25, 2024
No point in having replay if you’re not using it to correct obvious mistakes
— Mal (@jamalagnew) October 25, 2024
NFL should be ashamed the refs are terrible every week smh
— Kareem Jackson (@ReemBoi25) October 25, 2024
They can review almost everything else but not a game ending face mask call?
Wild.— Reid Ferguson (@SnapFlow69) October 25, 2024
It should be noted this play didn't cost the Vikings the game, just the chance at making it a game again. Even if the face mask was called, Minnesota still would have 80 yards to travel in one minute and 36 seconds, not to mention the two-point attempt and overtime. There were many more reasons the Vikings lost, such as Matthew Stafford's four touchdown passes.
Still, it's a bad way to end a game, and an argument could be made that maybe face-mask penalties should be reviewable. Then again, an even more dramatic play involving the Rams was the impetus for making pass-interference calls reviewable, and that ended up being so bad the NFL abandoned it after one season.