So after the championship games we have our two combatants for Super Bowl LIII, but not without some controversy.  In the 4th quarter of the NFC Championship game between the Rams and the Saints, the Saints were driving to take the lead late in the game.  After completing a long pass to Ted Ginn to get in the red zone, the Saints were on the verge of closing out the game with less than 2 minutes remaining and the Rams having only 2 timeouts remaining.

Since they were already in field goal range, the Saints decided to stay aggressive and threw a pass on first down.  The pass fell incomplete with the help of an obvious defensive pass interference.  However, to everyone’s surprise, no call was made on the play.  Everyone watching, including the player defending on the play, Nickell Robey-Coleman, knew that this was a penalty but the whistles stayed silent.

Rightfully so, the Saints and their fans were livid.  But there was nothing they could do.  At the most inopportune time, the refs decided to “let them play”.  In a call to Sean Payton after the game the league admitted that the officials blew the call, but there’s no consolation for the Saints as that call helped prevent them from making it to Super Bowl LIII.

But this is not the first time controversy has arisen in the NFL post season.  We all remember the “tuck rule” game in 2002 between the Patriots and the Raiders.  A rule/decision that changed the trajectory of 2 franchises.

Then there was the Wild Card playoff game between the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys in 2014 where a penalty was called and then the flag inexplicably picked up.  Not only was the receiver held off the line of scrimmage, but the defender never played the ball contacting the receiver while the ball was in the air.

Of all these controversial calls, the tuck rule game is the only one that was interpreted properly according to the rules of the game at the time.  But we have a larger problem here.  This season in particular the officiating has gotten worse and worse.  Could it be due to the fact that several veteran officials have retired over the last few years?  Are these newer officials not ready for prime time?

Blown calls are a part of the game, but on the big stage, the players and fans deserve better.  I’m not sure what the NFL official evaluation process is, but something must be done to prevent victories, or potential victories from being stolen.

Now you could probably say that this one call did not lose the game for the Saints.  There are obviously things they could have done better throughout the game, but the timing is obvious.  with 1:40 left in the game and your opponent with only 2 timeouts remaining, this completion for another first down obviously lets you milk the clock down to about 4 seconds and thus kick the game winning field goal.

So what happens to officials that blow calls at the most inopportune times?  I don’t have the answer, but something’s got to be done.  Maybe there needs to be more attention to certain rules at the ends of games similar to what the NBA and college football does.  Why couldn’t this be a reviewable play in the last 2 minutes?  Because it was not only PI, but was also helmet-to-helmet contact on a defenseless receiver.

At any rate, the NFL will have all off season to review this and come up with a remedy.  Something’s got to change.