A Joke

"Yes, I got there too early. I was beat and I was trying to save a touchdown"
  -Los Angeles Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman

Robey-Coleman was honest about his actions as well as his intentions on the play that likely changed the Super Bowl. The New Orleans Saints should be preparing for a Super Bowl date with the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams should be clearing out their lockers. Instead, it's the Rams that are alive and the Saints that are heading home. The Rams-Saints NFC Championship game wasn't decided by the players on the field. It was decided by the officials. As long as humans are involved in the officiating of sporting events there will be questionable calls. Everyone sees things differently. Different views, obscured views, a whole host of things might impact an officiating judgement. When Nickell Robey-Coleman blasted Saints receiver Tommylee Lewis while the ball was heading to the receiver there wasn't a single thing that should've prevented every official on the field to throw their flag. The officials had a few penalties that they could've been called on the play. Pass interference was an obvious one. A personal foul for hitting a defenseless receiver is another. A helmet-to-helmet could've been called as well. Take your pick. The officials chose none of them. Robey-Coleman admitted his intentions to commit them all. He simply wanted to prevent a touchdown. As a viewer, those intentions were never in doubt. Every subsequent viewing only confirmed it. One viewing clearly showed the official in the offensive backfield with an unobstructed view of the action watching the play as if he had just wandered onto the field. Another view shows the two sideline officials within a few feet of the play do nothing but signal an incomplete pass. These are the two officials that truly blew the call as it was their call to make. It's mind-boggling that one supposedly trained NFL official didn't see a clear, and admitted intentional, pass interference penalty. Yet, it wasn't just one official that missed it. All of them missed it. Two were right on top of the play. One could've touched Robey-Coleman as he was looking for the flags that he knew were surely on the field. It doesn't seem possible that a flag wasn't thrown. It's the worst officiating mistake that I've ever seen in a situation this big. It changed the Super Bowl. It's a mistake that simply can not be made.

The Saints should've had a first down inside the Rams' 10-yard line with about about 1:48 to play. I believe that the Rams had one time out left. The Saints should've been able to been able to drain all but a few seconds off the clock and kick a very short field goal. 23-20 Saints. Sure, there are no certainties in football. But it would be far better to see this game play out the way that it should have played out if the officials had simply done their job. This is a mistake that can not happen.

Some have said that this fiasco could cost director of officials Al Riveron his job. I suppose that it's human nature to need one person to blame. Personally, I blame every official on the field. Riveron wasn't one of them. I still can't understand how each official kept their flag in their pocket. It was like watching two cars collide in an intersection and then say that nothing out of the ordinary took place in that intersection. Astonishing.

The Saints are getting no sympathy from Minnesota Vikings fans. In 2009, a host of questionable calls, as well as an all-out "bounty-gate" assault on Brett Favre" sent the Saints to the Super Bowl rather than the Vikings. While I know that the Vikings were robbed in that game, especially with the assault on Favre, the bad calls weren't even close to the miss that the Robey-Coleman "no-call" was. The officials in 2009 did their jobs poorly. The officials yesterday didn't do their job. Besides, despite thoroughly outplaying the Saints, the Vikings committed way too many turnovers.

I find myself on the side of the Patriots in Super Bowl LIII simply because the Rams shouldn't be there.