Sam Darnold’s obvious missed face mask secures the Rams’ victory over the Vikings, tightening the NFC West competition.
The Los Angeles Rams are coming, so be careful.
We have already been here. The Rams finished 10-7 and qualified for the playoffs last season after being 3-6 and defeating the Seattle Seahawks for the second time. This season, Sean McVay’s squad has been banged up beyond belief. They have nearly recovered from a 1-4 start to finish at 3-4, but not without controversy.
With fewer than two minutes remaining, the Rams were ahead 28–20 over the Minnesota Vikings had backed Minnesota close to its own goal line. Sam Darnold waited far too long to make a pocket decision on second and ten, and Byron Young fired him in the end zone. After the safety dance, the Rams win 30–20.
However, Minnesota shouldn’t have lost the game.
The Rams should have given the Vikings new life on a night when Minnesota was called for five defensive drive-extending penalties. Darnold was insistent in arguing his case to the officials that he was wearing a face mask, and Young obviously grabbed it. The NFL does not allow face mask penalties to be reviewed, and no flag was thrown.
It’s important to recognize that the Vikings needed a touchdown and two-point conversion (without timeouts) to force OT with more than 80 yards remaining. Stranger things have happened, though, and the Vikings were badly officiated.
Face mask penalties are very obvious, but I can see why the NFL would not want to make subjective decisions like pass interference reviewable. You had the option of grabbing the face mask or not. Given how easy the replay center can fix this error, the Competition Committee must examine it during the offseason.
The Rams are now only one game behind the Seahawks, and both Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua have returned to the starting lineup, looking as strong as ever. In the second half, a poor defense kept the Vikings out of the end zone despite four touchdowns from quarterback Matthew Stafford. They are becoming healthier and demonstrating why they shouldn’t be dismissed just yet. We can probably put the Kupp trade negotiations on hold as well.
Although I am aware that the Seahawks play the Buffalo Bills this weekend, the stakes are now higher for the Rams game the following week. Given that the Rams have defeated the San Francisco 49ers and the Arizona Cardinals have won two division games, Seattle can’t really afford to start 0–2 in the NFC West. In this close division battle over the next two weeks, Seattle has a virtual must-win going into the bye, or else the Seahawks risk dropping from first to last.ought should have had an automatic first down and 15 yards.
