As far as I know, Matthew Stafford hasn't enrolled in "how to act like you're undergoing an exorcism" or "how to look like your head is getting ripped off" classes, and that's really the only other possible explanation as to how he may have been able to contort his head area so violently in the middle of a key play in the fourth quarter of the Rams-Cardinals game on Monday night.
The other explanation? His face mask was grabbed by an Arizona defender... but no, it couldn't have been that!
Except it was exactly that. And it was pretty clear that it was that. And no one really questioned that it was the grab of his face mask that resulted in Stafford going down without a fight. What should have happened was a flag getting thrown and a new set of downs coming for the Rams... but that wasn't the case.
Stafford's reaction showed it all, as he hopped up after the play and was pretty animated toward the referees, but to no avail. Head coach Sean McVay was seen screaming "that's a face mask!" on the sidelines, but his complaint fell on deaf ears as well. And as for the rest of the NFL community, be it former players, media members or fans, we were all in agreement as well.
Some suggested that this is yet another perfect example of why face mask calls should be reviewable, even if no other penalties can fall under that rule.
And then, as expected, there were some oh-so-hilarious memes.
We can only imagine the drama and the controversy if this turned out to be a call that had a major impact on the game, but that fortunately wasn't the case. The Rams went on to prevent the Cardinals from scoring on a potential game-winning drive, picking up a huge win over their division rivals and once again asserting themselves as a true force to be reckoned with.
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