The Minnesota Vikings were a replay review away from possibly facing overtime; a replay review away from having to answer questions about how the heck they gave up two fourth-down, fourth-quarter touchdown passes.
To the naked eye, Will Fuller hauled in a juggling touchdown catch along the sideline that brought the Texans within a two-point conversion of tying the contest at 31 apiece, but the slightest of bobbles wound up costing Fuller the catch and the Texans the game.
The Vikings avoided having to reckon with blowing another double-digit lead in the second half by an eyelash. This time, though, the cause might’ve been more obvious: No Harrison Smith. The safety was ejected late in the second quarter after hitting tight end Jordan Akins, who was deemed a defenseless receiver on the play, in the head.
Head coach Mike Zimmer didn’t hide his displeasure with the call.
Plenty of choice words mixed in, but looks like Mike Zimmer felt strongly that Harrison Smith led with his shoulder, if I’m reading lips accurately. pic.twitter.com/TldV49I7nl
— Sam Ekstrom (@SamEkstrom) October 4, 2020
Zimmer was still irritated after the game and defended the ninth-year safety.
“I love Harrison Smith like he’s my son,” Zimmer said. “My issue has always been, the quarterback’s gonna throw the ball in the middle of the field and there’s no repercussions whatsoever, and Harrison is not a dirty player, he’s never been a dirty player and I feel like he tried to get his shoulder in there. They told me that the league office ejected him. If they want to give us a penalty, fine, give us a penalty, but don’t eject guys. This guy’s one of the best players in the NFL and one of the best people in the NFL. He’s not a dirty player, so that’s kind of what irritated me, I guess.”
His sentiment is understandable. This is the third season that players have been subject to disqualification, but ejections are still somewhat subjective. Officials on the field make a call for disqualification after seeing the play in real time, which is then reviewed by the league’s replay center. While VP of Officiating Al Riveron has the ability to overturn that call, it’s more likely to stand if it’s called initially on the field.
“After we looked at it, there was nothing clear and obvious for us to overturn the ruling on the field,” Riveron told a pool reporter after the game, “therefore the ruling on the field stood.”
Perhaps a greater source of irritation for Zimmer was his team’s lack of depth at safety behind Smith. His two options were veteran George Iloka and rookie sixth-round pick Josh Metellus. Iloka was called up from the practice squad Saturday to provide depth — but at a different position.
“He was actually our backup nickel today in case something happened to Gladney,” Zimmer said, “and so he was preparing most of the week at nickel. I actually asked him on the sideline if he knows what he’s doing at safety.”
Coincidentally, Iloka actually saw some nickel action in the first quarter after Cameron Dantzler went down with an injury, but Dantzler returned and kept Iloka available to substitute for Smith one quarter later. Even though Iloka had already spent the 2018 season in the Vikings’ system, he didn’t necessarily look comfortable back in his natural safety position.
It appeared like Iloka got crossed up on a pair of touchdown passes by Deshaun Watson. In the third quarter with the score 17-6, Iloka looked to Anthony Harris for instruction before a 1st and 10 play. Harris and linebacker Eric Wilson both motioned for Iloka to move to the line of scrimmage to perform his responsibility in the zone look, but Iloka was thrown off by the pre-snap motion of Randall Cobb and never followed Fuller out of the slot.
¡TOUCHDOWN!
Watson logra conectar con Fuller y los Texans se acercan en el marcador.
17-13#WeAreTexans
pic.twitter.com/q1N6AeJ418— The Holy Roller (@TheHolyRoller49) October 4, 2020
On Watson’s second touchdown pass, Iloka was again caught out of position as Kenny Stills snuck into the corner of the end zone for a touchdown on 4th and 10. It appeared as if Iloka overcommitted to Fuller on the inside of Stills.
“You prepare all week to go in and play nickel and getting a lot of reps there,” Harris said of Iloka. “And then you’re forced to come in and play a whole new position. But he’s working hard trying to pick up as much as he can and be as versatile as he can.”
DW4 with the LASER to Kenny Stills 👀
📺: FOX
📱: https://t.co/Nm64mQkAPf pic.twitter.com/r9D6ffZTGH— Houston Texans (@HoustonTexans) October 4, 2020
Despite the Vikings’ defensive struggles, Smith had been graded as a top-6 safety, according to Pro Football Focus. His absence likely contributed to two Houston touchdowns, but it didn’t end up costing the Vikings the game. Iloka ended his day with a positive play, perhaps aided by a fortunate bounce. The safety was in a position to tackle David Johnson one-on-one inside the 5-yard line on Houston’s second to last play of the game, but Johnson fumbled Watson’s pitch to tee up Iloka for a tackle for loss. That forced the Texans to throw on the game’s decisive fourth down.
It was a sigh of relief for the man who’d been the scapegoat to that point, not to mention the guy who had to watch from the locker room.
“Harry is one of our emotional leaders. He really don’t talk a lot, he just shows by example,” running back Dalvin Cook said of the safety. “When you’ve got a guy like that, you’ve got to go out there and fight for a guy like that. As soon as he walked off the field, we told him we were bringing this back for him. Then when we went into the locker room at halftime, I told him specifically, personally, that we’re bringing this back in the locker room for you, we’re bringing a W back. And it wasn’t as perfect at the end, but we brought it back and that’s all it’s about in the NFL.”
