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The Thursday Night Football matchup between the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Rams ended with a bit of controversy.
As the Vikings looked to rally down eight in the final minutes, Sam Darnold was brought down for a safety, but the officials appeared to miss a facemask penalty. Instead of getting a flag and the ball back, Minnesota went down 30-20 and the Rams walked away with a win.
After the game, fans ripped the officials for missing what seemed to be an obvious call.
After the game, Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News asked referee Tra Blake what the officiating crew saw on the safety.
“Well, on that play, the quarterback was facing the opposite direction from me so I did not have a good look at it,” Blake said. “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.”
Darnold, Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell and other members of the team complained to the officials which led to a discussion, but Blake said they couldn’t throw a flag because the referees “weren’t able to see it on the field.”
Blake also clarified that the play was not reviewable.
While the Vikings and their fans are upset about the missed call, there’s nothing they can do now other than move on to next week’s matchup against the Indianapolis Colts. Luckily for Minnesota, its hot start to the season means a loss isn’t necessarily detrimental to its playoff hopes.
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