Titans rage after unnecessary roughness penalty erases goal-line stop. Was punishment correct?

The Tennessee Titans had an important goal line in the first half Sunday against the Minnesota Vikingsuntil an unnecessary roughness penalty changed the game.

On fourth-and-goal from Titans‘ 1-yard line in the second quarter, Sam Darnold’s pass intended for Jordan Addison fell incomplete. Mike Brown hit Addison, avoiding the head and neck area, but Brown was penalized for unnecessary roughness.

The replay was clear in that the bulk of the impact was made by Brown’s shoulder into Addison’s chest. But no change was made on the field despite the emotional protests of Titans coach Brian Callahan.

Callahan himself was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct for his colorful rant, which was virtually irrelevant to field position. One play later, Darnold scored a touchdown on a 1-yard QB sneak.

GAME UPDATES: Tennessee Titans vs Minnesota Vikings score today: Live updates, stats, how to watch, game predictions

Other games this season have had similar calls that were overturned by the “eye-in-the-sky” replay review. But that didn’t happen on Sunday.

Via NFL rule bookunnecessary roughness against a defenseless player must meet at least one of these criteria:

• Striking the defenseless player’s head or neck area with force with the helmet, facemask, forearm or shoulder, even if the initial contact is lower than the player’s neck, and regardless of whether the defender also uses his arms to tackle the defenseless player by surrounding or grabbing him .”

• “Lowering the head and making forcible contact with the crown or “hairline” parts of the helmet against any part of the defenseless player’s body.”

• “Illegal launch into a defenseless opponent. It is an illegal launch if a player (i) leaves both feet before contact to spring forward and upward into his opponent, and (ii) uses any part of his helmet to to initiate forcible contact against any part of his opponent’s body (This does not apply to contact against a runner unless the runner is still considered a defenseless player.)

Brown avoided the head and neck area of ​​Addison, appeared to lean in with his shoulder while not lowering his head to make contact with Addison with the crown of his helmet and appeared to keep his feet on the ground as he got contact while standing upright. It’s unclear what part of the rule was enforced on the play, given the lack of detail in referee Clete Blakeman’s penalty announcement.

On the CBS broadcast, both Adam Archuleta and former NFL referee turned rules analyst Gene Steratore disagreed with the penalty.

This story will be updated.

This article originally appeared on the Nashville Tennessean: Titans unnecessary roughness penalty wipes away goal line, leads to Vikings TD