Even almost a week after the viral no-call on Los Angeles Rams’ corner back, Nickell Robey-Coleman for pass interference and head to head contact, we are all still confused and bitter. The New Orleans Saints played a solid game, but so did the Los Angeles Rams, the sole difference is, the Rams got lucky when at the most crucial point in the game. This play won’t be forgotten for a long time and with the Saints organization having a relatively large and vocal fan base, the NFL has no choice but to make some sort of change in the rule book this off season.
To paint the picture, the Saints had the lead for the whole first quarter. In the second quarter the Rams cut the Saint’s lead of 13 down to just 3. With electrifying plays by the Rams and uncharacteristic conservative play calls by the Saints, the Rams eventually found themselves tied at 20 in the late fourth quarter. Now, all eyes were on Saints’ quarterback, Drew Brees to take the lead and prove he’s worthy to be considered as one of the greatest of all time. Sure enough, Brees lead a steady drive down the field to the Rams’ 13 yard line at 3rd down and 10 to go. Brees dropped back and allowed the route play’s route tree to develop, he fires to wide receiver, Tommylee Lewis who, while searching for the ball, immediately gets demolished by Nickell Robey-Coleman. Everyone knew it was at least pass interference, maybe even head to head contact. No flags were thrown. If this penalty was called, the Saints would have a first down and be able to chew the clock until kicker, Wil Lutz could hit a chip-shot field goal, instead, it was 4th and 10 and Lutz was forced to kick a field goal with a lot of time left on the clock. The Rams marched down the field and their kicker, Greg Zurlein booted a 48 yarder. The game was tied once again. Everyone intensely watched the coin toss to see who’d receive the ball and most likely win due to the broken overtime rules, but that’s a story for a different day. The Saints won the toss and all the fans at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome could finally breathe. It seemed nothing could go wrong. So far in this game, whenever the Saints needed a score, they could get one, but just three plays in, Brees threw a pick and the Rams kicked a field goal to win it. The Saints looked like the more complete and worthy team for 58 minutes and 12 seconds of the game, but then, the Rams got lucky. I’m not arguing that the Rams didn’t deserve to win, they had a good game and were able to fight back against arguably the best team in football. Nor am I arguing that all no-calls should be able to go under review, but no-calls such as pass interference, off sides, and personal fouls should be in order to prevent additional catastrophes such as this. A You Tuber focused on football stories, KTO describes his similar perspective to mine on this issue as well as others. Also, Christopher Harris, a fantasy analyst voices his opinion of the possible backlashes of establishing such a rule on his podcast.
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