ATLANTA — And on the 10th day, the sound of crickets coming from the NFL — a sound that had become deafening particularly in New Orleans — finally stopped.
Wednesday marked 10 days since the Saints were eliminated from the NFL playoffs in the NFC Championship game by the Rams and the officials, their chance to play in Super Bowl 53 this week ruined by the no-call heard ’round the world.
Only because Wednesday was his annual scheduled Super Bowl week state-of-the-league press conference, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell — seemingly in hiding from public view and conspicuous by silence on the matter since that title game — finally addressed the egregious refereeing error that has at least slightly tainted this Super Bowl.
Until Wednesday, Goodell curiously had not publicly addressed the Saints being blatantly robbed when referee Bill Vinovich’s crew failed to call an obvious pass interference penalty on Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman’s hit on Saints receiver Tommylee Lewis.
“We understand the frustration of the fans,’’ Goodell said. “[We] talked to [Saints] coach [Sean] Payton, the team, the players. We understand the frustration that they feel right now, and we certainly want to address that.’’
At least one Saints player who watched the Goodell press conference, weighed in and essentially called him a liar.
“He ain’t talk to us,’’ Saints receiver Michael Thomas tweeted.
Michael ThomasEPA“Whenever officiating is part of any kind of discussion postgame it’s never a good outcome for us,’’ Goodell said. “We know that our clubs know that, our officials know that. But we also know our officials are human. We also know that officiating a game that goes very quickly they have to make snap decisions under difficult circumstances, and they’re not going to get it right every time.’’
The one they got wrong in the NFC Championship game, however, was perhaps as costly a mistake an officiating crew has ever made. A strong argument can be made that had that call been made, the Saints — and not the Rams — would be playing the Patriots this week.
The no-call came with 1:45 remaining in regulation on a third-and-10 play from the Rams’ 13-yard line, with the score tied 20-20. Robey-Coleman ran into Lewis and made helmet-to-helmet contact (another infraction missed by the officials) before the ball arrived.
Had interference (or the helmet-to-helmet call) been flagged, the Saints would have had a new set of downs and a chance to run the clock down before attempting a short field goal with less than 20 seconds remaining. Instead, the Rams forced overtime and beat the Saints 26-23.
There has been understandable outrage in New Orleans since.
“Sunday night [after the game], coach Payton spoke to Al Riveron, our head of officials, immediately after the game [and] Al told him that’s a play we want [a penalty] called,’’ Goodell said. “I have spoken to [Payton]. Troy Vincent, the head of football operations, has spoken to him. I have spoken to Mrs. [Gayle] Benson [the Saints owner]. There has been a great deal of communication.’’
Not publicly, however, and that has not been a good look for Goodell and the league, making them look as if they’re in hiding.
When asked why it’s taken so long for him to address the situation publicly, Goodell spun into what essentially was a non-answer.
“We addressed this immediately after the game,’’ he said. “We spoke to the coach, and the fact that this play should have been called. We had several conversations with those clubs and other officials over the next several days. That’s our process.
“Over our history, unfortunately we have to had officiating errors and other factors that have been a lot of focus on the news, but the game of football is played on the field and played by humans, coached by humans and officiated by humans. So we think that we’re proud of having the Patriots and the Rams here.’’
None of this could possibly have made the Saints or their fans happy.
Of changing the instant-replay rule, perhaps allowing for it to be used in pass interference calls, Goodell said, “We will look again at instant replay. There have been a variety of proposals over the past 15 or 20 years. It does not cover judgment calls. Our coaches and clubs have been very resistant.
“There has not been support to date about having a replay official or someone in New York throw a flag when there is no flag. They have not voted for that in the past; it doesn’t mean that we won’t. We’ll put it to the competition committee, see if there is an answer to that. But the reality is, it’s been there has been opposition philosophically for many clubs.”
