“But I don’t think you can just make it open-book, review everything. They’ve had this video-assist process (with the booth replay official) in place all year, and I think they’ll come out and say that that certainly prevented some coach’s challenges and booth replay reviews. As it was, the Saints then faced fourth down, with the game tied, and had to kick their go-ahead field goal then - with enough time for the Rams to come back and tie it at the end of regulation, and win it in overtime.īLANDINO: “Yeah, I think we’re heading in that direction …

You surely remember the deliberate defensive pass interference that wasn’t called just three Januarys ago, on a Los Angeles Rams defensive back, which prevented the host New Orleans Saints from getting an automatic first down that would have allowed them to run down the clock before attempting a gimme field goal at game’s end - to win the NFC championship and advance to the Super Bowl. And rightly so.īut why? Why does the NFL insist on leaving open the possibility of such regular controversies? That’s because an inadvertent whistle is among myriad in-game occurrences that the NFL’s keepers-of-the-rules (i.e., the competition committee) continue to stubbornly exclude from the purview of replay reviews.Īs a result, Raiders fans will be bitter about yet another controvserial official’s call that went against them - the unacknowledged inadvertent whistle - for decades to come, no doubt.

The kicker? The league’s central replay command operation in New York City was powerless to correct the mistake. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

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