The Philadelphia Eagles escaped a 15-yard penalty during the Week 7 game against the Dallas Cowboys. It all happened during a third-and-three with about 12:20 remaining in the second quarter, as the Eagles led 14-10.
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Visuals of the foul play began circulating on the internet, with the fans calling the officials out for ignoring a potential penalty on the Eagles. The visuals showed Eagles cornerback Quinyon Mitchell blatantly grabbing Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb’s facemask and twisting it while attempting to tackle and stop the receiver in his route. However, the officials let it all slide.
“How do you miss this incredibly obvious face mask??” DNP Sports’ Chad Fisher wrote on X in the caption as he shared the visual of the foul.
“Eagles CB Quinyon Mitchell got away with what should’ve been a face mask penalty while trying to bring down Cowboys WR CeeDee Lamb,” Eagles writer Anthony DiBona wrote on X.
Even the broadcasters noted that Mitchell grabbed Lamb’s facemask right before the duo went out of bounds. They seemed surprised that the officials missed the penalty and let Mitchell get away with the illegal play.
According to Rule 12, Section 2, Article 15 of the NFL rulebook, twisting, turning, or pulling an opponent’s facemask should result in a 15-yard penalty. The officials certainly do not downgrade a lesser facemask penalty to just five yards. Of course, it will also give the offense an automatic first down if the defense committed the foul.
However, players can escape a facemask penalty if there’s replay assistance that clearly shows that the player did not make any contact with the facemask or the helmet opening.
The league can further impose a fine on the offenders. According to the NFL fines schedule, a first offense for a facemask penalty carries an $11,941 fine. For the second offense, the players have to pay up to a $17,911 fine. Thankfully for Quinyon Mitchell, the officials seemingly missed the penalty and didn’t put the yellow flag down.
But Mitchell couldn’t escape an injury scare. With 1:14 left on the clock before halftime, Dak Prescott sent a 13-yard pass to Ryan Flournoy during a first-and-10. During the run, Mitchell fell and seemed to have injured his knee. He moved to the blue tent to undergo evaluation. But with just above ten seconds left in the second quarter, the cornerback returned to the game.
On the other hand, the 27-year-old wide receiver also escaped a penalty in the first quarter of the Week 7 game.
CeeDee Lamb escaped a penalty during the game against the Philadelphia Eagles
During a third-and-two, with 5:38 remaining on the clock in the first quarter, Prescott and the Cowboys had to cover just nine yards to score a touchdown. The quarterback took three steps back right after the snap and saw Lamb running toward the end zone. Without much delay, Prescott threw the ball toward the wide receiver, and Lamb caught it.
However, just before catching the ball, Lamb created separation against Eagles cornerback Cooper DeJean. Well, Lamb fully extended his arm to create that separation before spinning around to catch the ball and score a touchdown.
In the NFL (Rule 8, Section 5, Articles 1 through 4), if a wide receiver fully extends his arm to create separation, he should be slammed with a penalty for offensive pass interference. Of course, the receiving corps can use hand-fighting to brush off a defender and maintain their running path. It’s worth noting that, according to Football Nation, officials judge the restriction and not just the extended arm. It’s not interference if there’s incidental contact or if the contact doesn’t materially affect the defender.
But if it does affect the defender, the officials generally put a 10-yard penalty on the offensive team. The down has to be repeated in such cases, without the loss of a down.
While missed calls went both ways after Lamb got away with an early push-off, Quinyon Mitchell’s blatant facemask grab remains under the microscope. Even though he escaped a 15-yard flag and a second-quarter knee scare, the Eagles star now faces a potential fine.