Is the NFL secretly reviewing facemask penalties?

And where was this when Joe Burrow was being abused?

After the Cincinnati Bengals played the Dallas Cowboys on Monday night, NFL rules analyst Walt Anderson admitted that the refs missed an obvious facemask violation by Marist Liufau on quarterback Joe Burrow.

Anderson went on to say that the league would “look at a lot of plays” to find “some of the things that real quickly we can help the officials with seeing.”

It appeared at the time that the NFL would take steps to catch more such violations in the future.

Well, the future might be now.

In last Monday’s playoff game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Los Angeles Rams, linebacker Blake Cashman grabbed the facemask of running back Kyren Williams.

But none of the refs threw a flag.

Here’s what happened next, per the narration of Pro Football Talk:

Then, referee John Hussey conferred with umpire Terry Killens, Jr. After their meeting, Hussey announced the penalty.

On the broadcast, Joe Buck said, “We never saw a flag.”

“No, and I don’t know where that came from,” ESPN rules analyst Russell Yurk said. “They definitely talked about it afterwards, and I don’t know where it came from.”

Asked Buck, “Am I wrong in saying that they cannot throw a flag in essence from New York?”

“Yeah, I don’t think it came from New York,” Yurk said, not answering the question directly. “I did see a flag come in late. And so I think they talked about it on the field. I don’t think they would have thrown this from New York.”

This does seem a bit suspicious. If a facemask isn’t yet a reviewable violation, it isn’t technically allowed to review it.

But player safety should always take priority, so this is definitely a step in the right direction.

Of course, Bengals fans probably can’t help but be a little frustrated, seeing that their star QB was the most high-profile player to have his facemask grabbed in critical junctures of games.

There was, of course, the violation from the Cowboys game, which, fortunately, the Bengals would still win.

But there was also this one on a huge play in a crucial loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

And yet somehow, with an o-line that couldn’t consistently protect him and a lot of missed calls from refs, Burrow had a career year.

You can see some of his best plays from late in the season in the video below.

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