Roger Goodell absolutely can (but definitely won’t) overturn that blown Saints call

There’s an obscure rule that could overturn the ridiculous blown call in the New Orleans Saints loss to the Los Angeles Rams. It’ll never happen, but let’s explore the possibilities anyway.

Call Jason Witten, Joe Tessitore and Lisa Salters. Fire up the Booger-mobile. We’re playing a Monday Night Football game. Well, we would be playing about 1:49 seconds of a Monday Night Football game if all was right in the world. But it isn’t. Saints fans know this all too well.

Pro Football Talk pointed out the potential game-changing rule on Twitter after the New Orleans Saints lost the NFC Championship game to the Los Angeles Rams because of a blown no-call. Michael Thomas, who is (rightfully) still upset, also posted the rule on his Twitter feed:

https://twitter.com/Cantguardmike/status/1087260225848176640

Rule 17, Section 2, Article 3 allows the NFL’s commissioner the ability to reverse the result of or reschedule a game from the point at which an extraordinary act occurred. A referee’s choice to have some fun with the Bird Box challenge late in the 4th quarter of that game would most definitely qualify an extraordinary act, right?

The most blatant, obvious pass interference call on earth would have all but locked up the game for the Saints, who could have bled the clock down to mere seconds before ultimately kicking the game winning field goal. I knew that was pass interference, you knew it, the refs knew it, the players knew it. Your elderly grandmother who doesn’t watch football would have called it if she was somehow suddenly transported onto the field and dressed in stripes for that single play.

Head ref Bill Vinovich claims he didn’t see the call. Really? How? Was he on his phone, checking his Twitter feed? Obviously not, because he would have seen the play trending in real-time. Was he admiring the masterful design of the goof in the crowd who wears a giant whistle on his head? There’s no possible way this call goes missed in any other game, ever.

Anyone arguing that this game was rigged to get the LA market is so obviously wrong as well. If refs were properly fixing a game, they wouldn’t do it by missing the easiest call in NFL history. They’d do it like they did in the Patriots game; by calling phantom roughing the passer penalties, confirming non-catches as catches and overturning a play they surely didn’t have enough evidence to overturn. That’s how it’s done! Missing the only play that just about 7 billion people on Earth could definitively throw a flag on… that’s just incredible.

Nickell Robey-Coleman, the guilty party at play, wasn’t shy about it either. He flat-out admitted his guilt to members of the media in the locker room after the game:

"“Oh hell yeah. That was P.I. I just know I got there before the ball got there and I whacked his ass… I thought it was going to be a bang-bang play. But when I got up, I thought it was P.I., because I didn’t look back for the ball. My teammates were like, ‘Think about if you were to look back, that could have been a pick-six.’ Because he threw it kind of short. But that didn’t happen. I seen his hands go up, and I just hit him, bro. I just hit him.”"

Imagine if this was an actual crime? Imagine if an NFL player murdered someone, was found not guilty then went on to basically write a book saying “If I did it, here’s how.” Wait…

Disregard that last part.

There’s no way Roger Goodell would ever exercise his apparent right to change this game, even if it technically would be the right thing to do. The two cities involved in Super Bowl LIII are massive markets (Boston and Los Angeles) and the potential story lines of the long-time rivalries these cities have had are too good to pass up, money and media-wise. That, and it would be a logistical nightmare.

Rams fans were also quick to point out a collection of missed calls against the Saints late in the game, including two uncalled facemasks and a delay of game penalty that went unnoticed. Any discussion about this crazy rule becomes a full-blown comparison of every single play, what was missed and what could have changed the game. No one wins because every game has missed calls on almost every play.

But who cares about that. The Saints won that game! Two refs watched as one player got blown to pieces in front of them, the ball nowhere near either party. We’re down to one last football game this season and it’s probably going to be another brutally annoying Patriots win. Let’s play 1:49 of a Monday nighter!

The ratings would be through the roof. The thought of flying everyone back to the stadium, filling the place with fans and playing out the final two minutes is equal parts hilarious and incredibly tempting. The 17 commercials that they could fit into that time frame would make up for any money lost by not having the LA market involved in the Super Bowl. Plus, does Brady vs. Brees really have a downside?

Come on, Goodell. Do the right thing. Let’s go back to the dome and finish this game properly.

Signed,

Michael Thomas, 75,000 Saints fans and the rest of us who are already missing football.