I’m going to talk about the 1/20/2019 Rams – Saints NFC Championship
game. I’ll preface this by making sure
it’s understood by all that I am, and have been for decades, a devoted Rams
fan. Keeping that in mind, I’ll also say
that the opinions I’m about to give are without bias to the best of my ability.
Okay. The referee blew
the defensive pass-interference call near the end of the game. That’s easy to write because it’s true – no question
about it! I want to point out that in real-time,
it looked like a “bang-bang” play and I really thought at first, that
Robey-Coleman made a great play by disrupting the play. Slow motion told a different story. Fans can call the refs “dumb”, “blind”, maybe
even “biased” with that fateful non-call with 1:49 left in the fourth
quarter. They have every right to do so
and be angry over this. The one thing they can’t say is “It cost
the Saints the game”.
Now, let me explain this before you dismiss this claim as a
Rams fan’s rationalization.
So, let’s assume for a moment that the penalty was
called. First down, Saints! Now, as I’ve been hearing, all they have to
do to win the game is run a couple of plays or even take a couple of
kneeldowns, and then kick the winning field goal at the end.
This is the NFL, folks.
Fumbles, bad-snaps, and missed kicks in crunch time do happen (Ask Cody
Parkey and Tony Romo.) Yes, Lutz made
the kick with 1:49 left. That doesn’t mean
it would have happened at 0:01. Is it
likely that the Saints would have one had the penalty been called? YES!
It’s very likely, but not for absolute certainty.
Now, understanding that it’s very likely the Saints would
have won with the penalty, let me make my main argument – The Saints arguably should have won, anyways.
The Saints, with 1:41 left in the fourth quarter led 23-20. To win, they had to stop the Rams from
scoring in that last 1:41. The Rams went
down the field, and in the clutch, scored the tying field goal.
The Rams executed,
the Saints failed.
So now it’s overtime.
It’s like starting over with a some of the rules changed. The
Saints won the coin toss! They get
the ball first and have the opportunity to just win the game without giving the
Rams any chance. At least, they could
score a field goal and put all the pressure back on the Rams to have to score
again.
The Saints failed big time. The
Rams’ defense put pressure on Brees and got an interception.
The Rams executed,
the Saints failed.
The Saints can still win at this point. Stop the Rams as the Rams had stopped
them. Instead, The Rams executed, the Saints failed.
Saints fans, be angry.
I would – in fact I actually am. Believe
me, I don’t like my team going to the Superbowl under these circumstances. However, I can say that the Saints don’t have
excuses. The Saints had multiple chances
to win that game after the non-call.
They blew it!
If the situation were reverse, I promise you that this is
still how I would feel.
