Jared Goff and the Lions may have gotten away with an intentional grounding in the first half of Sunday night’s crucial game against the Vikings at Ford Field.

With the ball at their own 8-yard line early in the second quarter, Goff dropped back and retreated to his end zone while being pressured by several Vikings defenders. When Ivan Pace Jr. hit him, Goff threw the ball into the turf directly in front of him. After consulting with his crew members, lead official Brad Rogers announced that there was no foul for intentional grounding because a receiver (TE #89 Brock Wright) was in the area.

When repeated, this looks like a rather questionable decision.

NBC rules analyst Terry McAulay felt it should have been a grounding penalty.

“He has to throw it in the direction and close to the receiver,” McAulay said. “He doesn’t throw it towards 89 at all, he throws it away from 89. I really think that should have been a foul for intentional grounding.”

It would have been a safety if it had been called. Instead, the journey continued. Luckily for the Vikings, they got a deflected interception five plays later, so the no-call didn’t end up playing a big role. However, they had to settle for a short field goal, which gave the Lions a 7-3 lead at that point.

At the start of the game, the officiating team also missed a facemask penalty against the Lions defense.

But a poor start by Sam Darnold, rather than the referees, is the main reason the Vikings trailed 7-3 at the time of this story’s publication.

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