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Referee ‘didn’t see’ Sam Darnold hit in head on Colts TD return

Referee ‘didn’t see’ Sam Darnold hit in head on Colts TD return

Referee Sean Smith said he didn’t see Sam Darnold hit in the head during the Colts’ return touchdown Sunday night, so his team controversially raised their flag and ruled that there was no penalty in the game.

“What I initially saw was a potential mask to hit the quarterback hard,” Smith said. PFWA pool reporter Kevin Seifert after the game when asked why he threw the flag in the first place. As for why he was elevated, Smith said, “We determined the initial force was in the shoulder and it was accidental contact with the head and neck area.”

Seifert then asked Smith if a forearm strike to the quarterback’s head would be considered a hit to the head, to which he responded, “Well, I didn’t see that.” He also confirmed that this is not a situation where playback assistance can intervene.

The NBC broadcast shows Colts defensive tackle Grover Stewart making contact with Darnold’s head with his hand and forearm area. NBC rules analyst Terry McAuley believed it should have been a penalty.

“In my opinion, it’s a pretty strong blow to the head from the forearm, hand and wrist of the tackler,” McAuley said. “He’s a defenseless player, it’s violent contact. If they had called it that way and left the flag down, it would certainly have been considered a foul for unnecessary roughness.”

Head coach Kevin O’Connell thought the same thing. “I thought there was contact with the quarterback’s head and neck area,” he said after the game.

“I felt like I could hold the football because of that first and foremost,” Darnold said. “But the calls are what they are. It’s not my job to judge it or even talk about it, so that’s all I’ll say about it.”

Colts DB Kenny Moore II picked up Darnold’s ball and returned it for a touchdown, giving Indianapolis a 7–0 lead. But it would be the Colts’ only touchdown of the night as the Vikings rallied in the second half. to win 21-13.

For the second week in a row, Darnold’s hit to the head was controversially ruled out. It wasn’t as obvious as missed face mask in the Vikings’ loss to the Rams, but it looks like it should have been called. The explanation was the same both times: the judges did not notice it.