ScottyRo

Saints coaches received notice from NFL officials that referee Mike Carey's crew missed three critical calls in New Orleans' 23-20 overtime loss to Carolina on Sunday.

Each call was costly to the Saints.


From Our Advertiser




In their weekly report to Saints coaches, supervising officials said:

-- Carolina quarterback Jake Delhomme should have been called for intentional grounding when he fired a backhanded incompletion from his end zone on the Panthers' opening drive. Carey initially threw his flag on the play, then waived the infraction after determining that there was an eligible receiver in the area. In the report, officials admitted there was no eligible receiver in the area of the incompletion and the play should have resulted in a safety.

-- Panthers receiver Walter Young should have been called for offensive pass interference on Carolina's go-ahead touchdown drive in the fourth quarter. Saints cornerback Fred Thomas was called for defensive pass interference on the play, but officials admitted that Young initiated the contact by pulling Thomas' helmet. Instead of a first-and-goal at the Saints' 18, the Panthers had a first-and-goal at the 1. On the next play, Stephen Davis scored the go-ahead touchdown.

-- Panthers linebacker Lester Townes should have been called for defensive holding when he tackled running back Deuce McAllister in pass coverage on the Saints' second play of overtime. No penalty was called, and quarterback Aaron Brooks scrambled for a 2-yard gain. The infraction would have given the Saints an automatic first down at the Carolina 38-yard line. Instead, they faced a third-and-5 at the Carolina 41.

After Sunday's game, several Saints players complained about the final no-call against Townes.

"Sometimes that happens," McAllister said. "We'll probably get an apology this week, but that doesn't help our record."

http://www.nola.com/saints/t-p/index...3736108710.xml

Deuce summed up my feelings on this pretty well. I couldn't care less about an apology...what I want is an officiating crew that calls what they see and not what they think they saw. As much as the replay review system is starting to bug me, there's nothing we need more when there is such inept officiating in the game.

WhoDat

We definitely could have won this game, and we made a lot of mistakes on our own. HOWEVER, nine points of bad calls and a drive-stalling call in OT is unacceptible. We got cheated and it just might cost us our season.

saint5221

As much as the Saints have done to beat themselves this year it\'s really hard to take when they fianlly get something going and the reward is a screwing from the zebras like this. I know Haslett has problems with officals but this is outragous. The fact we just have to take it is the worst!!!