It was the no-call everyone but the refs saw Sunday afternoon at Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
Tommylee Lewis was trucked by Nickell Robey-Coleman and pass interference call should have been called against the Los Angeles cornerback. But instead, the Rams and New Orleans Saints went into overtime, and it was the Rams who punched their ticket to Super Bowl LIII on Feb. 3 against the New England Patriots.
New Orleans head coach Sean Payton called for more replay, while Rams coach Sean McVay didn’t see anything wrong with the play. Robey-Coleman, however, admitted he should have been called for PI.
Now Devin McCourty is speaking out on the matter, saying even though he’s “not a fan of reviewing,” something needs to be done in order to “make being an official more inviting.”
“Have these refs as full-time jobs so they don’t have to work in the offseason,” the Patriots safety said, via NBC Sports Boston’s Tom Curran. “Give them higher pay, give them a union so we have guys working on their craft year-in and year-out like the players do, so that we’re not here in an NFC Championship Game with a chance to go to the Super Bowl and then getting a call from the league office that says, ‘Hey, I’m sorry.’ That does absolutely nothing for the group of guys that was just playing.”
Even though officials have a union and some are full-time employees, he raises a good point. There most likely always are going to be egregious missed calls, or penalties that may be generous, but an “I’m sorry” doesn’t change the fact the Saints got potentially robbed of a Super Bowl appearance.
