Vikings’ Sam Darnold Talks Refs Missing Facemask Penalty on Rams: ‘It is What it is’

An apparent missed facemask penalty cost the Minnesota Vikings their chance at marching down the field and potentially tying the game in the final minutes against the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday.

While it was a frustrating situation for Minnesota, quarterback Sam Darnold, who was brought down for a safety on the play that wasn’t deemed a facemask, believes his team shouldn’t have been backed up to their own end zone in the first place.

“The facemask — it is what it is,” Darnold said, per Pro Football Talk’s Myles Simmons. “I thought we could’ve done a lot to not put ourselves in the situation that we were in, the penalty before that. So, we’ve just got to continue to play better and not put ourselves in that situation to begin with.”

On the replay, the facemask was as clear as day. Rams linebacker Byron Young used Darnold’s facemask to drive him to the ground.

Referee Tra Blake offered an explanation to Calvin Watkins of the Dallas Morning News after the game, saying the officials didn’t have a clear angle to make the call.

“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.”

Blake also said the official crew discussed the play but ultimately couldn’t throw a flag since no one saw it clearly and the play was not reviewable.

To Darnold’s point, the Vikings could have set themselves up better in the drives leading up to what would be their last. On the previous drive, they punted the ball away to Los Angeles while down eight points, and while the Rams didn’t score, an excellent punt meant Minnesota was standing in the shadow of its own goalpost.

Head coach Kevin O’Connell said that he thinks Young “got a pretty good amount of facemask,” but ultimately isn’t blaming the officials for the loss.

“I told our team, officiating and all that stuff, for us to talk about that, for us to seek comfort in that, is not how we’re going to respond to this,” he said, per Simmons. “It’s just not going to happen. And I’m going to do the same thing right now.”

After back-to-back losses following a 5-0 start, the Vikings have the chance to get back in the win column next week against the Indianapolis Colts.