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Fans aren’t buying NFL officials’ excuse for missing an obvious facemask penalty on Thursday Night Football.
On Thursday night, the Minnesota Vikings took on the LA Rams in an evenly matched game.
Late in the fourth quarter, the Vikings game ended when Sam Darnold was sacked in the backfield when his facemask was pulled. The refs missed the obvious facemask penalty and the play was ruled a safety.
The refs missed an OBVIOUS facemask penalty when Sam Darnold got taken down. Absolutely terrible.
pic.twitter.com/rWfb8tOov6— NFL Retweet (@NFLRT) October 25, 2024
In a statement to a pool reporter, head ref Tra Blake said no official had a good look at the face mask in question.
“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 good 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.”
Referee Tra Blake said no official had a good look at the face mask on the key sack/safety of Sam Darnold. Pool report: pic.twitter.com/wapBEEZ24V
— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) October 25, 2024
Fans called out refs for lying because video evidence shows one ref with what appeared to be a clean look at the play.
this ref literally must be blind
staring RIGHT AT the face mask, no call pic.twitter.com/dwE3BzCBgL
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) October 25, 2024