Hannah Frank, Reporter
On January 20, 2019, in the Rams-Saints NFC Championship game, one of the most egregious no-calls of all time was made – or rather, missed. Saints quarterback Drew Brees threw a pass to wide receiver Tommylee Lewis, and Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman ran directly into Lewis before the ball came down, knocking him to the side and preventing him from catching the pass. It was an obvious and classic case of pass interference, and everyone seemed to know it… except the referees, who threw no flags on the play. Even Robey-Coleman knew what he did was penalty-worthy. “That was [pass interference],” he said in the locker room afterwards. “I did my part. Referee made the call. We respect it.”
The Rams may have respected it, but most people were not so sympathetic to the referees’ decisions. The league office knew immediately that the call was blown, as they called Saints coach Sean Payton after the game to apologize. There were actually two missed calls on the play, they admitted: one for pass interference, and one for helmet-to-helmet contact. However, the apologies of the league office meant little to incensed fans. Saints fans and fans of other teams alike were furious about the call, and about what it meant for the league. No review was allowed on the play, there was no way of changing the call, and the Saints went home. Apologies wouldn’t suffice.
To many fans, this incident showed that referees had complete control over the outcome of the game, and were able to bend it however they wanted. Allegations of rigged NFL games and bent referees were inescapable – the highest quality video footage of the game on Youtube has the caption “I swear the NFL is rigged.” Comments on the ABC News video about it read “It is scripted,” and “Corruption at its finest.” Regardless of whether or not the allegations of rigging held any water (and they almost certainly did not), the public opinion of the call was obvious: the Saints had lost their Super Bowl chances unfairly.
However, a small ray of hope remained for Saints fans who felt cheated by the no-call. After the game, Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas tweeted out, “Rule 17 Section 2 Article 3,” referencing a page in the NFL’s rulebook about Extraordinarily Unfair Acts. Such acts are not defined or made clear, and no definition is given as to what counts as “extraordinarily unfair,” but the rule essentially states that if an act during a football game is determined to be extraordinarily unfair, the Commissioner can step in and fix the situation however he sees fit. Because of how clear the missed call was to fans, players, and officials, Saints fans hoped NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell would take action under this clause. When he didn’t, a number of fans sued the NFL to take action and replay a portion of the game under this clause, since Goodell had the power to do so. However, the court ruled that fans had no standing to sue about the enforcement of rules. While Robey-Coleman was fined afterwards, it felt hollow and useless to the Saints fans who had tried to hard to enact Rule 17, Section 2, Article 3.
This year’s playoffs had far fewer controversies, and, thankfully, no missed call was made so egregiously. But now that we have no sports, it’s a time to look back and ask ourselves how things could have changed had that call been made. Would the Saints have defeated the Rams, winning the NFC, or would they have lost anyway? If they had made it to the Super Bowl, would they have won or lost to the Patriots? Would Super Bowl LIII still have been as boring and terrible?
Happy quarantine everyone, and stay safe.