Judge rejects possible 'do-over' of Rams-Saints playoff game

AP ^ | 31 JANUARY 2019 | KEVIN MCGILL

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A quest by two New Orleans Saints ticketholders to force a full or partial do-over of this year's NFC championship game because of a blown "no-call" by game officials was rejected Thursday by a federal judge.

Officials failed to call interference or roughness penalties when a Rams player leveled a Saints receiver with a helmet-to-helmet hit at a crucial point in the final minutes of regulation time. The Rams won the Jan. 20 game in overtime and are set to play the New England Patriots in Sunday's Super Bowl in Atlanta.

Fan reaction in New Orleans has included disbelief, anger and resignation, expressed in newspaper headlines, billboards ("They reffed up" said one), promises by some restaurants and bars that they won't show the Super Bowl broadcast on Sunday, and posters of blind referees.

[Dogbert41]

I’m a Saints fan, but I thought the Saints should have stopped playing at that moment and refused to enter the field until the play was reviewed and correctly called, and the blind reffs fired on the spot.

[vigilence]

The Rams cornerback said he expected to be flagged for interference but was told by the ref that the ref thought the ball was tipped so he didn’t throw a penalty flag. There was no disputing this early version by either party. And if this is so the ref should have flagged the interference along with the helmet to helmet and let instant replay determine if the ball was tipped. And if it was tipped the personal foul should have resulted in a first down and potential dq for the offending cornerback.

[Mark]

Why can’t the Rams, Saints and the Patriots all be claimed Super Bowl winners this year. That would FEEL good and that evil game can be stopped for the year.(/s)

[Spok]

As messed up as the NFL is, judicial interference will only make matters worse.

[mrsmith]

An Obama judge...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susie_Morgan

Amazed that she couldn’t find a way to mess this up!

[Gay State Conservative]

A do over? The chances of New Orleans winning that game if the officials had made the correct call is 99.8%.

That;s a high enough margin to to eliminate the need for a do over.The Rams don't belong in the Super Bowl.Sunday's game will mean nothing regardless of who wins.If the Patriots win the question would be "could they have beaten the Saints?"

And if the Rams win...the question would be the same.

[shelterguy]

When you have to blame the refs for losing a game it just means you didn’t work hard enough to win.

[murron]

This wasn’t just your ordinary run of the mill blown call. Did you see the play in question? There’s no way that was just a blown call. And the Saints played a very hard fought game.

[VietVet876]

Eagles fan here. Karma’s a bitch, ain’t it Saints?

[the OlLine Rebel]

I was hoping Saints would win. Better chance against the Hatriots.

Bad calls, yes.

But then, maybe this is payback for the headhunter scandal perpetrated by the Saints for their SB.

[vigilence]

They should call it the astrick bowl with the astrick indicating that the Rams were there because of the NFL’s inability to:
1. Consistently define pass interference the whole year when they can deny a receiver’s catch because he didn’t put it away before hitting the ground even though the ball didn’t hit the ground.
2. Reluctance to use instant replay challenges on all calls.
3. Hire,train,test full time officials.
4. Avoid the appearance of inpropriety by assigning officials to games where they have no residential familiarity.
5. At least get their stories straight before giving BS excuses after the fact chalking it up to human error.
Full disclosure...I am not a Saints fan, just tired of being emotionally invested for four hours only to be robbed by blatant ineptness by the Goodell NFL.

[Nifster]

Well duh

[Nifster]

You don’t get it. It’s a game

[Truthoverpower]

Saints got ball in OT and threw a pick
No bad call there

[willyd]

If the defender had been looking back he would have picked it for six... the ball was under thrown...

[morphing libertarian]

the judge should never have allowed the case.

[Yaelle]

I’ve said this before but in a room of Rams fans, everyone here saw that interference as well. We are happy the Rams are in the Super Bowl, but that was pretty obvious.

[Dr. Sivana]

I’m a Saints fan, but I thought the Saints should have stopped playing at that moment and refused to enter the field until the play was reviewed and correctly called, and the blind reffs fired on the spot.

I am a Rams fan, but I didn't want my team to walk off the field after an clear and obvious facemask penalty committed against our QB Jared Goff wasn't called. The blond refs also did not see fit to call ANY of the holds against Aaron Donald in the first half.

[Dr. Sivana]

1. Consistently define pass interference the whole year when they can deny a receiver’s catch because he didn’t put it away before hitting the ground even though the ball didn’t hit the ground. 2. Reluctance to use instant replay challenges on all calls. 3. Hire,train,test full time officials. 4. Avoid the appearance of inpropriety by assigning officials to games where they have no residential familiarity. 5. At least get their stories straight before giving BS excuses after the fact chalking it up to human error.
Br> On the basis of at least the first four, ALL of the Super Bowls would be "Asterisk Bowls". Heck, it wasn't so lolng ago that they didn't use instant replay for ANYthing!