It didn’t take long for the NFL to admit there was a royal screwup in the NFC Championship game Sunday that robbed the Saints of a trip to the Super Bowl.
Sean Payton told reporters after New Orleans’ 26-23 loss to the Rams that he had just gotten off a call to the league office, which admitted the referees “blew the call” on a blatant pass interference with time ticking away in regulation.
The Rams’ Nickell Robey-Coleman put a brutal hit on Saints WR Tommylee Lewis before the ball was even close to catchable, but no flag was thrown. Had pass interference been called, the Saints could have let time wind down before kicking a field goal. Instead, they had to kick the field goal with plenty of time left for the Rams to work their way up the field and send the game to overtime on the ensuing drive.
The league also admitted that Robey-Colman should have been called for a helmet-to-helmet hit as well, according to NFL Network.
“It’s a hard job for those guys, it’s happening fast, but I don’t know if there was ever a more obvious pass interference call,” Payton told reporters after the game.
In a pool reporter interview, lead official Bill Vinovich didn’t give much insight into why the sideline referee held his flag. In fact, Vinovich said he personally had not even seen the play yet and called it a judgment call.
Robey-Coleman himself admitted it should have been called pass interference. When a Washington Post reporter showed him a replay, Robey-Coleman said, “oh, hell yeah. That was PI.”
Payton was deservedly incensed on the sideline after the play and well into overtime, when he could still be seen pleading his case to the officials. It did no good then, but the league cleared things up uncharacteristically quickly, likely seeing the firestorm coming and wanting to get out in front of it.
That’s no solace to the Saints, who won’t be heading to Atlanta.
“We lose a chance to go to the Super Bowl with a call like that, it’s just disappointing,” Payton said.
