No-Call Ends Saints

Referee Bill Vinovich’s crew missed an obvious pass interference call on Los Angeles Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman in the final minutes of Sunday’s NFC Championship Game against the New Orleans Saints.

The no-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 appeared to run into Saints receiver Tommylee Lewis and make helmet-to-helmet contact before the ball arrived — sending the raucous Mercedes-Benz Superdome crowd into a chorus of boos when no flag was thrown.

Had interference been called, 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, advancing to Super Bowl LIII.

As Lewis bounced up from the turf, he says he was sure there was going to be a flag waiting for him nearby. It was as clear a pass-interference call as the game of football could produce. Except, when Lewis scanned the field, there was no flag. No penalty was called.

This would have been an egregious missed call at any point, in any game. That it came with less than two minutes left in the NFC conference championship, when a first down would have effectively ended the game and sent New Orleans to the Super Bowl, is incomprehensible. It feels so unlikely, so impossible, that the players in the room don’t seem to even know how to react.

After the game, Lewis didn’t feel the need to state his case to the assembled reporters. He doesn’t explain the rules of football, doesn’t enumerate all of the reasons why the hit should have been a pass interference call. He doesn’t even really complain about it, because he knows that everyone saw what happened.

“There’s not too much more to say about the play,” Lewis says. “Obviously it was interference.”

At that time of the play, the Rams only had two timeouts left. If a penalty had been called, the Saints would have been able to kneel three times, drain out the clock and kick the game-winning field goal.

Instead, a penalty was not called. Instead, beer bottles were thrown on the field by irate Saints fans. Instead, the Rams got the ball back with 1:41 left in the game, marched down the field and kicked a field goal to send the game to overtime. Instead, Drew Brees threw an interception in the extra period and Los Angeles kicker Greg Zuerlein nailed a 57-yard field goal to win the game. Instead, the Rams are now going to Atlanta to compete for the Lombardi Trophy, and the Saints are going into another offseason shocked by the unlikeliest of defeats. But this time it wasn’t even their fault.