The New Orleans Saints just wrapped up a game, so NFL officiating supervisor Al Riveron had to call in and explain what happened at the end. It seems the Saints can’t just play a game without some sort of officiating controversy clouding things.
In this case, questions surrounded a possible push-off by Minnesota Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph against Saints cornerback P.J. Williams on the final play of the game, which could have constituted offensive pass interference and given the Saints defense another opportunity to get off the field. No penalty was called for it, however, and Riveron defended the decision.
“None of that contact rises to the level of a foul,” Riveron told The Athletic’s Larry Holder. As a scoring play, it was automatically reviewed by Riveron’s office in New York, and he expressed confidence in the different angles Fox provided them.
“Yes, FOX was great,” Riveron said. “They gave us every angle that they had pertaining to the play. So, we’re very comfortable with what we saw. Nothing came through afterward that we had not seen prior to making the ruling.”
It’s ridiculous that these debates about officiating keep trailing the Saints. Human errors are going to happen in every game — it’s part of the argument in favor not automating more of the officiating process — but it’s outrageous that they keep happening to the Saints in the highest-leverage moments. Wouldn’t it be great if they could just have a game and win or lose without any question of to what degree the referees got involved?
Here’s the pool report regarding the final play of Saints-Vikings with NFL VP of officiating Al Riveron. @LarryHolder served as pool reporter. pic.twitter.com/ZYKMCk1zME
— Amie Just (@Amie_Just) January 5, 2020
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