NFL community calls for rule change after Vikings face-mask controversy

The Minnesota Vikings were robbed of completing a possible game-tying drive late in Thursday night’s contest at the Los Angeles Rams when a non-call of a clear face-mask penalty resulted in Minnesota quarterback Sam Darnold taking a safety that helped the Rams secure a 30-20 victory. 

Understandably, multiple members of the NFL community reacted by suggesting the league must prevent similar instances from occurring in the future. 

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk/NBC Sports is among those who believe face-mask fouls should be subject to replay review.

“It requires little time to see that it happened,” Florio wrote. “The evidence is always clear and obvious. And the consequences of the failure of the officials to spot it in real-time can be devastating.”

Per ESPN’s Kevin Seifert, referee Tra Blake told a pool reporter after Thursday’s game that he “did not have a good look at” the play in question and, thus, “did not see the face mask being pulled.” Blake added that umpire Carl Paganelli also “did not get a good look at it” because he “had players between him and the quarterback.” A simple video replay review likely would’ve resulted in Minnesota’s drive correctly being continued via an obvious defensive penalty. 

This is the second time in less than a month that a controversial non-call impacted the outcome of a “Thursday Night Football” game. As Florio mentioned in a different article, a missed face-mask penalty ultimately aided the Atlanta Falcons against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 5. 

“More and more things that weren’t reviewable have become reviewable,” Florio continued on Thursday night. “And with the recent proliferation of replay assistance, the NFL is doing more than ever before to support the folks in black and white who have a far different view of the action on the field than the rest of us.”

Meanwhile, well-known NFL writer Luke Easterling of Athlon Sports thinks the league could “just let everything be reviewable” in the final two minutes of games. 

“There’s no reason the league can’t use replay assist to make clear and obvious calls like the one we saw Thursday night go the right way instead of allowing an embarrassing mistake to determine the winner of another game,” Easterling said. “…Limiting it to obvious missed calls like the one we saw Thursday night, and only within the final two minutes of the game, would ensure that the game can’t be decided in critical moments by costly errors on the part of the officials that could easily be fixed in real-time to ensure a more fair result.”

History shows the league won’t make such a drastic change in the middle of a campaign, but owners could discuss the matter during the offseason before meaningful practices begin. If nothing else, at least two teams may support altering what can and cannot be reviewed following the events of October 2024.