Saints react to NFL admitting botched call vs. Texans: 'That's a game-changer. That can't happen.'

SmashMouth · 09-09-2019, 11:50 PM

Al Riveron was left to clean up another officiating snafu at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome Monday night. This time, at least, it didn’t cost the Saints a game – or a trip to the Super Bowl.

Drew Brees was furious. Sean Payton was rather calm. And Cam Jordan waxed philosophical, after the officials in Monday night’s 30-28 Saints victory over the Texans saw yet another half end with fans, media members and Saints coaches and players confused about what appeared, at least on the surface, to be a fairly simple call to make when broken down.

After the Houston extended its lead to 14-3 with just under two minutes left before halftime, New Orleans found themselves facing 3rd-and-17 from their own 30-yard-line with 48 seconds to go, trying to muster some amount of offensive momentum after two early stalled red zone drives. Brees found Thomas fending off Bradley Roby on the sideline right around the first-down marker and fired a dart into his mitts, before Thomas fell toward the sideline and stretched the ball toward the marker, giving the officials their first in a series of decisions to make.

Initially, the refs decided he was inches short, sending Brees storming to the line with one timeout left and close to 30 seconds to go to attempt a quarterback sneak. But the refs whistled him off to look at the spot 15 seconds after the play was ruled dead.

“But it shouldn’t have been a booth review. It was pretty obvious he made the yards to gain,” said Saints head coach Sean Payton. “We would always move the chains in the past.”

Once the refs emerged from the hood, things got much – much – more complicated. Officials deemed Thomas had cleared the first-down marker, but because play was stopped with the clock rolling, head referee John Hussey ruled the Saints must either forfeit their final timeout, or surrender 10 seconds off the clock – from the current 0:26 mark, rather than at 0:41 when the play was complete.

That’s where Riveron, the NFL’s senior vice president of officiating, comes in once again.

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09-09-2019, 11:50 PM	#1
SmashMouth I donated, did you? Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Mandeville, LA Posts: 37,141 Blog Entries: 29	Saints react to NFL admitting botched call vs. Texans: 'That's a game-changer. That can't happen.' Al Riveron was left to clean up another officiating snafu at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome Monday night. This time, at least, it didn’t cost the Saints a game – or a trip to the Super Bowl. Drew Brees was furious. Sean Payton was rather calm. And Cam Jordan waxed philosophical, after the officials in Monday night’s 30-28 Saints victory over the Texans saw yet another half end with fans, media members and Saints coaches and players confused about what appeared, at least on the surface, to be a fairly simple call to make when broken down. After the Houston extended its lead to 14-3 with just under two minutes left before halftime, New Orleans found themselves facing 3rd-and-17 from their own 30-yard-line with 48 seconds to go, trying to muster some amount of offensive momentum after two early stalled red zone drives. Brees found Thomas fending off Bradley Roby on the sideline right around the first-down marker and fired a dart into his mitts, before Thomas fell toward the sideline and stretched the ball toward the marker, giving the officials their first in a series of decisions to make. Initially, the refs decided he was inches short, sending Brees storming to the line with one timeout left and close to 30 seconds to go to attempt a quarterback sneak. But the refs whistled him off to look at the spot 15 seconds after the play was ruled dead. “But it shouldn’t have been a booth review. It was pretty obvious he made the yards to gain,” said Saints head coach Sean Payton. “We would always move the chains in the past.” Once the refs emerged from the hood, things got much – much – more complicated. Officials deemed Thomas had cleared the first-down marker, but because play was stopped with the clock rolling, head referee John Hussey ruled the Saints must either forfeit their final timeout, or surrender 10 seconds off the clock – from the current 0:26 mark, rather than at 0:41 when the play was complete. That’s where Riveron, the NFL’s senior vice president of officiating, comes in once again. more on NOLA Also Triplett Attached Thumbnails jeanpierre likes this.
	Last edited by SmashMouth; 09-10-2019 at 04:25 AM..