Everyone Saw Sam Darnold Get Dragged Down By His Face Mask (Except Tra Blake)

And he’s the only one that counts

Full disclosure before getting all the way into this story. . .and I’m gonna put this in bold print in an effort to make sure that nobody misses it (although some people will simply ignore it on purpose). . .the final play of the Minnesota Vikings’ 30-20 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday Night Football was not the reason they lost the game. There are any number of reasons that they lost this game and they all occurred well before that final Vikings’ offensive snap.

Having said that. . .

I’ve been watching football for right around 40 years now, and I’m not sure that I’ve ever seen as egregious a missed call as we saw on that play. Byron Young sacked Sam Darnold in the end zone for a safety on the Vikings’ last desperation drive, but pretty much everyone in the stadium saw that Young dragged Darnold down by his face mask, which should have been a 15-yard penalty and given the Vikings, at least temporarily, a new lease on life.

I say “pretty much everyone” because, well, referee Tra Blake apparently did not see it and, unfortunately, his is the only opinion that matters.

Even Young thought he did something wrong, as he put his hands on his helmet in sort of an “oh, dang” pose after he took Darnold down.

But this isn’t the first time that Blake has been in a bit of a controversy involving the Vikings.

Remember back in 2022 when the Vikings played the Indianapolis Colts at U.S. Bank Stadium? They wound up completing the biggest comeback in NFL history but, during the course of the game, had two scoop-and-score touchdowns by cornerback Chandon Sullivan called back even though they were completely legitimate touchdowns?

Guess who the referee was? Go on, guess.

(Click on the tweet to get the whole picture, courtesy of Twitter user DingoDonny1.)

Yeah, it was Tra Blake.

I’m not sure what happens to officials when they miss calls this badly. On the surface, it appears that nothing happens, or at least nothing that we ever hear about. Maybe they’ll get a very stern talking-to or something.

But the reactions have been coming in fast and furious on social media, and we’ve rounded up a few of them for you here.

There are plenty more out there, but that’s a collection of a few of the better ones, in my opinion.

But I suppose that we, as Vikings fans, can take heart in a couple of things.

First off, the National Football League will almost certainly send the Vikings a letter at some point in the next couple of days that will tell them that was absolutely a face mask. As if that does any good. . .hell, just throw it on the pile with the rest of them.

Second, this will probably be another thing that happens to the Vikings that will help to provoke a rule change during the offseason. As if that does any good right now.

Again, the Vikings lost on Thursday Night Football for any number of reasons, but that non-call is right up there with the worst missed penalties I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been watching this game for a very long time.