Controversial safety in Rams win over Vikings had almost no impact on game result

It was the wrong call, but it didn’t matter that much

Rams edge rusher Byron Young should have been penalized for a facemask penalty with 1:36 left in the game on Thursday, but even if the refs had not blown the call the Vikings still had a lot of work left to do just to force the game into a tie. The no-call was bad television and bad publicity for the NFL on Amazon Prime, the NFL probably should be able to make a call from New York to throw the flag, but the Rams did not steal this win.

The Rams had the win in the bag for most of the night. The no-call should only be a footnote to the final score and also the reason that the NFL changes it’s “not reviewable” rules on calls such as this one.

If the flag had been thrown, the Vikings would have had first-and-10 at the 20 with the clock stopped at 1:36. They had no timeouts left and would have needed to go 80 yards, then convert a two-point conversion, then win in overtime. Minnesota’s longest drives of the game were their first two drives, both of which went 70 yards. After that, the Vikings longest drive went for 41 yards. The offense stalled out over and over again. Sam Darnold might be okay, he might even be good enough to start in the league beyond this season, but he’s not Aaron Rodgers.

It’s a lot of steps after the no-call.

The call or no-call simply didn’t matter, even if it never should have happened.