New Orleans Saints Forums - blackandgold.com - Breaking News NFL adopts rule change after Saints NFC 'No-call'

The type of game-changing non-call that cost the Saints a likely chance at the Super Bowl will now be reviewable in NFL games.

NFL owners have approved all offensive and defensive pass interference calls, as well as non-calls, to now be challenged, according to multiple reports.

Previously, interference calls, flagged or 'un-flagged' could not be challenged.

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Owners voted for the change on Tuesday night at the NFL owner's meeting in Phoenix, Arizona after a presentation by Saints head coach Sean Payton earlier in the day.

The vote was one of three on pass interference proposals voted on by league owners.

Besides new challenging rules, Payton's proposal, named "Proposal 6B," allows replay assistants to review non-called defensive pass interference -- like what the Saints experienced in their NFC Championship loss against the Los Angeles Rams.

WWLTV

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Payton also told reporters that any rule change should not be limited to postseason. He said the Saints benefited the Pittsburgh Steelers were hurt by a bogus pass interference call on the Steelers which set the Saints up for a touchdown in a game the Steelers badly needed.

It's a philosophical change, proving that Sean Payton's voice carries weight in the league.

“This is what I wanted to happen. That’s why I made my statement. (The non-call in the title game) will never happen again," Gayle Benson said in response to the decision.

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NFL owners passed a rule Tuesday (March 26) that would essentially prevent egregious officiating mistakes like the one that likely cost the New Orleans Saints a berth in the Super Bowl last season.

Starting in the 2019 season, coaches and a replay official will be allowed to challenge called and non-called pass interference penalties like the one Nickell Robey-Coleman levied on Saints wide receiver Tommylee Lewis in final minutes of the NFC Championship Game two months ago.

Coaches will be allowed to challenge the calls and non-calls at any point in the game except the final two minutes. During the final two minutes, a replay official assumes the responsibility of challenging those calls or non-calls.

“It’s a positive change,” said Saints coach Sean Payton, who led the call for change as one of two coaches on the competition committee which presented the rules-change proposal to owners for a vote. “We think it was a good change."

The decision was an upset of sorts. Most NFL insiders and observers thought it would take at least another year of research to effect change. But NFL coaches, led by Saints head coach Sean Payton, united behind the cause and lobbied owners for hours on Monday and presented a new proposal that ultimately was passed by membership on Tuesday afternoon, mere hours before the conclusion of the three-day meeting.

“I don’t think it will impact the way we watch games,” Payton said. “There’s two more calls that we’re going to work to get right, and I think that the room felt real good about that. It fits the system we know and our fans know."

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