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NFL Operations points out Saints also benefited from a big interference call

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...rference-call/

SmashMouth

CHA_CHING

I've had some time to think about this lately and wanted to share my thoughts.

This feels like a knee jerk reaction blaming that loss solely on the non-call and I don't really agree with that. We remember when the Vikings wanted the rules of OT changed after we beat them in the 2009 NFCCG. That too was a knee jerk reaction and I hate to make that comparison. I don't think we lost solely on one missed call, but that's beyond the point. We can discuss that game another time and what went wrong.

Last year we led the league in defensive pass interference penalties with 20 total. This rule change will lead to coaches challenges pass interference and non-calls of it. It could easily come back to haunt us, which is my main concern here. Given our issues with defensive pass interference, I jokingly commented last year on another forum that one of my biggest fears was Eli Apple or someone drawing a ridiculous pass interference penalty. I wasn't surprised to learn that we led the league in this last year.

DBs have never been more important than now with rule changes like that. I think about pick plays and how pass interference could be challenged now on those kinds of plays. If you watched Kansas City much last year, I believe they were the one team that ran pick plays more than anyone else. There were multiple cases of them in the AFCCG. WRs are being trained now to watch for this and make space for such a play.

The one good thing though is that coaches still only have 3 challenges so you have to really think about challenging it now.

Not really sure how I feel about this rule change. I have a bad feeling it can lead to some serious consequences.

CHA_CHING

I'll be the first and probably the only one to admit that we benefited from serious calls in that Steelers game.

Early in the game, there was that tick-tacky pass interference penalty in the end zone on a big play that put us 1st and goal ready to punch it in. That call could've been reversed by challenge of the new rule. I thought it was tick tacky but I didn't complain cause we rarely ever get the benefit of bad calls aiding us.

Our offense just went flat in the second half after we were up 24-14. We were kicking the crap out of them in the first half. I was thinking to myself 'YES! Finally! The offense has woken up and they are about to throttle this team!'

Then the second half commenced and it was just like every game since after Thanksgiving - offense unable to do anything and the defense trying their absolute best to bail them out.

Give credit to the defense cause they literally were trying to move heaven and earth to make us win that game while the offense piddled around the entire second half. The defense managed to get multiple stops, including a huge 4th down stop AND a turnover. (and would later seal the game with another turnover.) meanwhile the offense continued to piddle around unable to re-take the lead, or earlier when they could've put the game out of reach by scoring another TD or two.

That pass interference penalty helped us get that last TD and win the game.

This is what I was talking about in previous posts on here that something went really wrong for our offense beginning with the Dallas game and we never recovered. Dallas seemed to expose us and then every team followed suit with the same defensive game plan. That Pittsburgh game was our final highest scoring game for the year, and yet we barely got to 30 points that day. They had our offense completely shut down in the second half.... something the Rams did in the NFCCG as we went on to do nothing after going up 20-10.

I don't know what went wrong for us after November, but something did. Brees went from an MVP candidate to looking like Peyton Manning at the end of 2014 where Manning had slipped off a cliff and Denver went from having a high scoring offense to relying on their defense to bail them out of games at the end of the year.

IMO my own theory is that we didn't have enough weapons on offense to scare teams with. Dallas showed the world that if you could figure a way to limit Kamara and Michael Thomas, then there was no one left to be afraid of. I am hoping like hell we have a better receiver corps next year to remedy this problem.