NFL officiating is under the microscope once again. The NFL seems to regularly find itself in the middle of one officiating controversy or another. This trend held true on Thursday Night Football, as a missed call on an obvious penalty had a significant outcome on the conclusion of the game. One former NFL player did not hold back when critiquing the league on this matter.
Former NFL player JJ Watt immediately weighed in on the situation. Watt was quick to point out the hypocrisy in trusting officials to judge ‘hip drop’ tackles when they can’t even see blatant facemask penalties.
“Can’t see a facemask three feet in front of them, but we want refs to decide what is and isn’t a ‘hip drop’ tackle in real time,” Watt commented on social media.
The missed flag came in the final minutes of Vikings-Rams with the Vikings down eight points. Minnesota was attempting to drive down the field and tie the game with a touchdown and two-point conversion. Vikings QB Sam Darnold was sacked in the end zone, which is by rule a safety and change of possession.
However, multiple camera angles show that Darnold was plainly the victim of a facemask penalty. This should have negated the negative play and given the Vikings some free yardage.
The missed call sparked an outrage in fans and forced NFL officials to address the situation after the game.
NFL official reveals why a flag was not thrown on controversial Vikings-Rams play
So what actually happened on this play? Why wasn’t a flag thrown?
The referee in question, Tra Blake, offered an explanation for the missed call that caused the uproar.
“Well on that play, the quarterback was facing the opposite direction from me so I did not have a good look at it,” he told pool reporter Calvin Watkins, via Dane Mizutani of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “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.”
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Tra Blake’s account of events seems to run counter to what fans saw on the broadcast. Not only missing the call, but the fact that all officials simply could not see the foul occur. One particularly damning angle shows a referee’s vantage point behind the play, and from that angle it is still plainly obvious that a foul occurred.
While the officiating mistake is a huge problem with this game, it did not single-handedly decide the outcome. Minnesota would have had to drive down the field with limit time, no time outs, and score a touchdown plus a two-point conversion to tie the game. There was no guarantee that this would happen.
However, most NFL fans agree that they would have liked to see what would have happened.
It will be interesting to see how the league responds to this officiating controversy.