Kevin O'Connell wants clarity from refs: 'Who's looking at what?'

The Vikings have been burned by two missed calls in the past two games.

Kevin O'Connell on the sideline during the Vikings-Rams game in Week 8 of the 2024 NFL season. / Minnesota Viking

When Sam Darnold's helmet was yanked sideways on the final play of Minnesota's Oct. 24 game against the Rams, the refs claimed they were blinded from view of the obvious penalty. In the Vikings' Nov. 3 win over the Colts, the refs again said they didn't see Darnold get clubbed in the head on the play that Grover Stewart forced a fumble that led to a Colts defensive touchdown.

If nobody sees the foul, did it even happen?

Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell argued on the field about the blow to Darnold's head, but it wasn't allowed to be put to review. O'Connell has since learned that his opinion of what happened "really does not matter," but he's still seeking clarity about the rules. On Wednesday, he explained what he's trying to get from the league when it comes to increased clarity.

"All I know is what the rules say and then you step into the world of the fundamentals. Getting clarity on the fundamentals of how things are being officiated, and what I mean by that is who's looking at what? Who's really responsible for said call? What made them say 'let's pick that foul up'? Was it somebody else coming in, which is what took place Sunday night, and saying, 'No that wasn't a face mask'?" O'Connell explained.

"Then it's the dialogue. My dialogue was not about face mask at all, and knowing that the forcible contact to the head and neck area is now a reviewable thing, I was just trying to communicate that we could figure this out together, potentially, if that's the reason we dropped the flag on the field. It's just the fundamentals to try to work through it together in those moments."

Everyone needs some clarity on what kinds of forcible contact to the head and neck are reviewable.

Before the 2024 season began, the NFL Competition Committee expanded replay assist to include rouging the passer. By the letter of the law in the NFL rulebook, O'Connell could've barked for days at the officials to review the blow to Darnold's head, but it wouldn't have mattered.

According the he rulebook, the replay official or members of the officiating crew can only initiate a review for roughing the passer if a flag was actually thrown. Officials flagged the Colts for a face mask, not for roughing Darnold, and therefore it wasn't up for debate.

Roughing the passer is only reviewable "if a foul is called for roughing the passer based only on a hit to the passer’s head or neck area and there is clear and obvious video evidence that the defender did not make any contact with the passer’s head or neck area."

In other words, even if there's obvious video evidence that the QB is clocked in the head, it can't be reviewed if a flag was thrown organically by one of the officials. Had a flag for roughing been thrown, the Colts would've have every right to challenge the call.

Talk about a one-way ticket to going mad. If the defense is caught hammering an opponent in the head, it can be brought to trial. If they don't get caught in the act, they can't be charged for the crime.

"We've just had a couple [non-calls] as of late, and really early on in the season, where it's just the clarity gives you the ability to be a better coach, and that's all I want to do is just find out the information that I need to deliver to our players so they know how to play both technically, fundamentally, all those things," O'Connell said.