Referee reveals big mistake that led to Vikings’ loss to Rams

The Minnesota Vikings were on the wrong end of a huge missed call late in their game against the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday night, and the referee closest to the play had a simple explanation for what happened.

The Vikings trailed 28-20 and went 2-10 from their own 5-yard line with less than two minutes left in the game. Sam Darnold dropped back to pass and Rams linebacker Byron Young reached out, grabbed Darnold’s face mask and pressured him. Darnold dashed to the ground for a safety, but it seemed clear there would be a 15-yard facemask penalty.

Even Young threw his hands up to his head as if to say, “I can’t believe I did this.” However, no flag was thrown and the Rams were awarded a 30-20 safety. They won with this final score. you can Watch the full series here.

After the game, referee Tra Blake spoke to snooker reporter Calvin Watkins about the costly missed personal foul. Blake said he and other officiating team members did not see Young grab Darnold’s face mask.

“On that play, the quarterback was facing the opposite direction from me, so I didn’t get a good look at him,” Blake explained. “I didn’t look and frankly I didn’t see the face mask being pulled. The referee had players between him and the quarterback, so he couldn’t get a good look at the situation. He was also blocked. So that was it, we didn’t see it, so we couldn’t name it. “We couldn’t see that.”

Blake said there was an altercation on the field due to the Vikings’ reaction, but no one saw the violation, so the play could not be reviewed.