HOUSTON, TX - FEBRUARY 01: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell speaks with the media during a press conference for Super Bowl 51 at the George R. Brown Convention Center on February 1, 2017 in Houston, Texas.
The controversy from the NFC Championship game still stems as fans, especially Saints fans feel there is a need for some form of advanced replay system to make the correct call.
During the NFC Championship game on Jan. 20 it was late in the 4th quarter, when Drew Brees threw a pass to Tommylee Lewis. The safety, seeing Lewis was open, hit him before the ball was in his possession and knocked Lewis to the the turf. No flag was thrown.
Typically this called a pass interference penalty and even a helmet-to-helmet. But the referee did not see it that way, and did not rule that a penalty. Had the call been made the Saints would have received a first down and would have been in field goal range to seal the game. Instead the Los Angeles Rams got the ball back, sent the game into overtime and eventually won.
Star players such as JJ Watt, James Harrison, Ryan Shazier and members of the media alike voiced their frustrations over the call on social media.
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Commissioner Roger Goodell has come under fire from the players and the media alike in the past for not always making the appropriate decision. Regarding the call he had this to say:”We will look again at instant replay,” Goodell said at his annual pre-Super Bowl news conference. “There have been a variety of proposals over the last, frankly, 15, 20 years on whether replay should be expanded. It does not cover judgment calls; this was a judgment call. The other complication is that it was a no-call.”
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The no-call was so bad and infuriating it made both fans and players want additional review to be made, after feeling the officials’ judgment was no longer absolute.
The referees are only human, which is why there’s space for human error during officiating. With a call this big blown, the NFL has a lot to think about during this offseason.
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