The NFL owes the Big Easy a Big ol’ apology. A VERY BIG one. They owe the New Orleans Saints players, coaches, management, fans, peanut vendors, parking attendants and anyone else who has an association to the team an apology. They owe an apology to NFL fans who support their league with time and dollars. Heck they owe an apology to the sportsworld in general.
The blatant non-call on Sunday afternoon that punched the Los Angeles Rams’ card to Super Bowl LIII, and sent the Saints packing to an excruciatingly painful off-season, was an inexcusable mistake at best and possible malfeasance at worst, costing the franchise both monetarily and emotionally. And to make matters worse, to add insult to injury to the city of New Orleans, the NFL has taken a “mums the word” approach to the debacle. Silence may be golden, but in this case it more resembles a lump of coal.
In case you missed it, referee Bill Vinovich and his crew of blind-folded zebras missed an obvious pass interference (unnecessary roughing? assault & battery? attempted murder?) call on Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman in the final two minutes of Sunday’s NFC Championship Game against the Saints. The non-call came with 1:45 remaining on a third-and-10 play from the Rams’ 13-yard line, with the score tied at 20. Robey-Coleman steamrolled Saints receiver Tommylee Lewis, made helmet-to-helmet contact on the play, and violently knocked Lewis off his feet well before the ball arrived – sending the Mercedes-Benz Superdome crowd into a frenzy of boos and disbelief when no flag was thrown.
If the penalty had been called, it would have given the Saints a first down and the ability to run down the clock before attempting a chip-shot field goal with less than 20 seconds remaining, and most assuredly securing a spot in the big game. Instead, the game went into overtime with the Rams winning 26-23.
So NFL, here’s my question. Why do you steadfastly refuse to expand the use of replay? Don’t give me the “judgement call” argument. Judgements can be seriously wrong, as witnessed by Sunday’s game, and can easily be rectified with replay. And please don’t give me the tired argument that it will make the games run too long by adding additional replay breaks. Isn’t it worth an extra 5-10 minutes of game-time to make sure you get calls right? Especially in the playoffs when so much is on the line and each and every call (or non-call) can be a difference maker?
Let me give you an example of a sports league that understands the importance of playoff outcomes – the NHL. Now I don’t often use Gary Bettman and his league as the standard bearer of league correctness, but in the case of the playoffs, and playoff overtime in particular, they do it right.
In Stanley Cup playoff overtime periods, the games are played like regulation periods and it doesn’t matter how long the games last. The shootout is eliminated, and they go until someone scores, no matter how many 20-minute overtime periods it takes – one, five, ten or whatever. The NHL understands the most important thing is to settle the game on the ice, and they throw time constraints out the window. Oh, they also play best of seven series, not just one game to decide who moves on.
So why is the NFL so worried about adding a few extra minutes to just a handful of games? After all isn’t that just more ad revenue for the league that prints money? Your guess is as good as mine.
Apologize to New Orleans, NFL, then make sure nothing like that ever happens again. You’ve got the replay technology – use it. And now let’s chat about your ridiculously unfair, all-about-the-coin-flip, NFL overtime format we saw play out in Kansas City…
