The Outcome of No Call for the Saints and the Rams

The Super Bowl is this Sunday and the Patriots are playing the Rams, but there’s public debate on whether they are the right team to be playing.  The New Orleans Saints and the Los Angeles Rams played against each other in the NFC Championship game two weeks ago. Late in the third quarter, Drew Brees threw a pass downfield to Tommylee Lewis when Ram’s Nickell Robey-Coleman lit him up with no flags thrown on the play. The score was tied and there was less than 2 minutes left in the game so this was a very important. The NFl’s pass interference rule clearly states “there can be no pass interference at or behind the line of scrimmage” and the major issue is that “contact by a player who is not playing the ball that restricts the opponent’s opportunity to make the catch” is a violation of this rule. When Robey-Coleman hit Tommylee Lewis he made contact that affected Lewis’ ability to make a catch before the ball had even reached them. This is a clear violation of the NFL’s pass interference rule. If Robey-Coleman had paid more attention to the play, he most likely would have been able to intercept the pass, based on his positioning and the ball that was thrown. He explained himself in a tweet: “Yes, I got there too early. I was beat, and I was trying to save the touchdown.” This is important because Robey-Coleman acknowledged his fault and admitted that he made a mistake, but the league has stayed quiet. The NFC and AFC championship in the NFL is the final round of the playoffs to see what team from each division will advance to the Super Bowl. The winner of the Saints-Rams game would go on to play the Patriots for all the marbles.

If the referees had made the call, the Saints, led by veteran Quarterback Drew Brees, would have been able to score a touchdown or at least run the clock out and kick a field goal to win the game. But instead, they were forced to kick a field goal to go up by 3 and give the ball to the red hot Rams who drove down the field and tied the game again, and forcing it into overtime. Since the Rams won in overtime, we will be seeing them take the field this Sunday playing the Patriots in our hometown.

By Noah Finley