The ending to last night’s Vikings-Rams game was marred by a face mask foul that was seen by everyone but the officials responsible for seeing it. The league couldn’t do anything about it, because face mask calls and non-calls are never reviewable.
That could change. And it should.
All the NFL has to do is add face mask fouls to the list of potentially reviewable plays, via coach’s challenge, automatic replay review, or replay assistance.
“Yes, it’s likely that face mask will come up this offseason,” chief NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told PFT via email on Friday, in response to the question of whether the Competition Committee will review the situation after the 2024 season ends.
“Instant replay and what plays should and should not be reviewable is part of the conversation every offseason, and it’s anticipated it will come up again,” McCarthy added. “Teams may propose a rule change and there have previously been a variety of proposals on which plays or if all plays should be reviewable.”
This change really is a no brainer. There’s no valid argument against it. If anything, last night’s pool report from referee Tra Blake makes it even more clear that a change is needed.
“[The quarterback was facing the opposite direction from me, so I did not have a good look at it,” Blake said. “I did not have a look, and I did not see the face mask being pulled, obviously. The umpire had players between him and the quarterback, so he did not get a look at it. He was blocked out as well. So, that was the thing, we did not see it, so we couldn’t call it. We couldn’t see it.”
That’s fine. But everyone else could. Which makes it precisely the kind of mistake that should be fixed by replay review.
