Category: 2019 Playoffs

Bill Vinovich’s family reflects on NFCCG no-call: ‘Those people in New Orleans are nuts’

Bill Vinovich is infamous for the 2018 NFC Championship Game no-call against the New Orleans Saints, and now he gets to work Super Bowl 54.

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Bill Vinovich is not well-liked by New Orleans Saints fans. He was the referee in charge of the 2018 NFC Championship Game between the Saints and the Los Angeles Rams, and was at fault for the infamous defensive pass interference no-call that helped cost the Saints a trip to Super Bowl LIII; the Rams advanced instead, and were beaten so badly they failed to reach the postseason at all the following season.

Vinovich is a third-generation referee who has worked NFL games for 15 years, while also officiating Division I college basketball games. While he’s barred from speaking to the media as an active official, his father discussed the measures taken to protect Vinovich and his crew after they botched the game of the year.

“It was a scary situation,” Billy Vinovich told USA Today’s Josh Peter, “They had them sneak him out of the hotel and put him in another hotel and change their flights and get them out of town by 6 in the morning. The cops stayed with them all night. Those people in New Orleans are nuts.”

Obviously it’s a shame that Vinovich and the other officials should have ever had to fear for their safety, but at the same time it’s important that actions (or conscious non-actions) deserve consequences. And so far, Vinovich hasn’t faced any. He’ll be officiating his third Super Bowl in five years when the Kansas City Chiefs kick off against the San Francisco 49ers this Sunday. The most he’s had to do in publicly addressing failure in the workplace was calling it “A tough situation,” during his induction speech at the Midland Sports Hall of Fame in July 2019.

That frustration — of Vinovich getting off scot-free from what could be a fireable offense in other industries, along with his superivisors at the NFL offices in New York — is something Saints fans aren’t able to do anything more to alleviate. They’ve thrown public parade protests and made blindfolded referee costumes a popular sight at gamedays and Jazz Fest, but Vinovich’s presence in Miami wearing a white cap sends one tone-deaf message: Get over it. And that’s going to resonate with Saints fans about as badly as you’d expect.

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Saints to be represented with ‘The Saints Quarter’ at Super Bowl LIV

The NFL’s Super Bowl Experience in Miami will feature the New Orleans Saints and all 32 teams at the Lowe’s Hometown ahead of Super Bowl LIV

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The New Orleans Saints will have their own representation at the festivities surrounding Super Bowl LIV in Miami, even if they won’t be playing in the game between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers. New Orleans will be depicted with a customized model house in the Lowe’s Hometown neighborhood. Described as “an idyllic NFL community featuring dwellings for all 32 NFL teams,” each franchise will be portrayed with their own unique structure.

The dwellings are 8-foot-by-8-foot structures built in North Carolina and designed as tributes for each of their home cities. Each home was built with materials found at Lowe’s, this year’s presenting sponsor of the NFL’s Super Bowl Experience in Miami.

“Just as the two teams in the Super Bowl will be looking to bring home a championship, Lowe’s is stepping up its game and helping fans bring the NFL experience to homes across the country,” Lowe’s said in a press release.

The statement continued, describing “The Saints Quarter” as, “a Bourbon Street-inspired house, featuring a classic French Quarter balcony, silhouettes of jazz musicians and hanging gardens. It has all the flair, colors and glitz of the Big Easy itself.”

It’s an interesting interpretation of the city’s landmark historical district, which draws millions of tourists each year. Fans visiting Miami ahead of Super Bowl LIV can see “The Saints Quarter” and the rest of the neighborhood at the Miami Beach Convention Center from Saturday, Jan. 25 to Sunday, Jan. 26, as well as Wednesday, Jan. 29 to Saturday, Feb. 1, 2020.

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Michael Thomas salutes Tyrann Mathieu for getting a shot at Super Bowl LIV

New Orleans Saints WR Michael Thomas shouted out Kansas City Chiefs DB Tyrann Mathieu for his AFC title game win and shot at Super Bowl 54.

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Game recognizes game, and Michael Thomas is here to celebrate that fact. The first-team All-Pro wide receiver for the New Orleans Saints took some time out of his Sunday to congratulate Kansas City Chiefs defensive back Tyrann Mathieu for his team’s victory in the AFC Championship Game against the Tennessee Titans, which will propel them to Super Bowl LIV. All that stands between Mathieu and the Lombardi Trophy is the red-hot San Francisco 49ers.

Mathieu has come a long way from his impressive play with the LSU Tigers to a parting with the team due to off-field issues, then being drafted by the Arizona Cardinals. He spent a year with the Houston Texans before landing a three-year, $42 million contract with the Chiefs, and so far, he’s earned every penny. Thomas shouted out Mathieu, who also joined him on the AP All-Pro first team, from his official Twitter account. Mathieu replied with words of admiration; you can view the exchange where it’s been embedded below, or at this link. It’s crystal-clear who Thomas will be pulling for when the Chiefs and 49ers kick off in Miami on Feb. 2, and it should be an easy decision for Saints fans to follow his lead.

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Saints fans have an easy choice to root for in Super Bowl LIV

New Orleans Saints fans have an easy choice for Super Bowl LIV. It’s time to root for the Kansas City Chiefs over the San Francisco 49ers.

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The Kansas City Chiefs will play the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LIV in Miami in two weeks, and the choice for New Orleans Saints fans is clear: root for Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes, and Kansas City.

Sure, the Saints-49ers rivalry is a big part of this. Drew Brees and the Saints dropped 46 points on San Francisco during the regular season, but it wasn’t enough to win — that loss played a huge part in playoff standings later on down the road, eventually gifting the 49ers a first-round bye and dooming the Saints to a first-round exit.

But the bad blood runs deeper. The 2011 Saints team was one of the best in franchise history (possibly the best), but its season ended on a sunny afternoon in San Francisco during the playoffs. To go back even further, reaching into past decades, the Saints were terrorized by the 49ers dynasty as division rivals in the old NFC West.

So, sure, it would be great if the Saints were playing in this year’s Super Bowl instead of these two squads. But they aren’t, and it’s time fans make their peace with that. Enjoy the dozen-or-so Saints players cutting up at the Pro Bowl and become Chiefs fans for a week or two.

If we’re lucky, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan will get a 28-3 lead over the Chiefs and inevitably have it blow up in his face, just as it did when his Atlanta Falcons lost Super Bowl LI. Considering Mahomes has done a lot of playing from behind this postseason (while Shanahan and the 49ers have done plenty of playing-with-a-lead), that scenario isn’t as far-fetched as it feels like. Wouldn’t that be something?

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Cameron Jordan invites Vikings to watch the rest of the playoffs from his couch

New Orleans Saints players Cameron Jordan and Michael Thomas offered a spot on their couches with the playoff-eliminated Minnesota Vikings

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Who does Twitter better than Cameron Jordan?

The New Orleans Saints defensive end followed up a career-best 15.5-sack season by getting voted into the Pro Bowl and the All-Pro second team. And even if his squad exited the playoffs sooner than expected, he hasn’t allowed 24-hour ribbing from Minnesota Vikings fans to get him down.

So when the Vikings were eliminated in a one-sided 27-10 loss on the road to the San Francisco 49ers, Jordan did what any neighborly soul would do: he offered a spot on his couch to the Vikings and their fans, who are now stuck on the outside looking in just like he was. How’s that for spinning a negative into a positive?

But Jordan wasn’t the only Saints player to take some time to laugh at the Vikings’ expense. Wide receiver Michael Thomas also lit up his Twitter timeline, bringing the jokes and welcoming Minnesota to a long, cold offseason. Maybe he and Jordan will host a playoff-viewing party for all their opponents who also won’t be playing in Super Bowl LIV.

https://twitter.com/Cantguardmike/status/1216151314520006657

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J.T. Gray lost most of his game check to NFL fine for illegal block vs. Vikings

New Orleans Saints safety J.T. Gray, a second-team All-Pro, was fined $28,075 for an illegal blindside block versus the wild-card Vikings.

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It’s bad enough that the New Orleans Saints were unceremoniously booted out of the playoff picture in last week’s loss to the wild-card Minnesota Vikings. You have to feel for backup safety J.T. Gray, who was penalized for an illegal blindside block during a punt return — and then hit with a $28,075 fine by the league office, per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.

While he may have been voted a second-team All-Pro for his efforts on special teams, Gray’s salary ranked low on the team in 2019. He played on $570,000 contract that paid out just over $33,529 per week. In the playoffs, the NFL’s tiered payout structure granted him $31,000 for his participation in the wild-card round as a member of a division-winning team.

Now, most of that cash is gone. It’s unfortunate for a young player to be fined so heavily for a foul, especially on a rule that was just recently introduced in last offseason’s owners meetings. There’s no doubting the validity of his penalty and the fine that it drew, but maybe the NFL Players Association and the league can reach some sort of compromise on fining players relative to their income during the ongoing CBA negotiations. It would do a lot to help out the players who aren’t as experienced or as financially secure as their peers. Hopefully it’s something the powers that be will consider.

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Saints snap-count analysis from wild-card loss to Vikings

The New Orleans Saints didn’t change much of their snap counts in their wild-card loss to the Minnesota Vikings, but maybe they should have.

What went wrong for the New Orleans Saints in the wild-card round? Some puzzling personnel decisions led to botched opportunities against the Minnesota Vikings, and it ultimately cost them a shot at another Super Bowl berth, which was eluded the Saints for a decade. Here is how each position group split snap counts on Sunday.

Offensive backfield

  • QB Drew Brees, 54 (96%)
  • RB Alvin Kamara, 42 (75%)
  • QB Taysom Hill, 23 (41%)
  • RB Latavius Murray, 15 (27%)
  • FB Ricky Ortiz, 3 (5%)

It’s unclear why Kamara outsnapped Murray so significantly, because Kamara’s play didn’t earn that wide of a disparity. His slump year continued into the playoffs, with Kamara’s longest play amounting to just a 9-yard catch. He averaged just 3.7 yards per touch against the Vikings. He still has a year left on his contract, but the Saints can begin negotiating with him on an extension in March. It’ll be interesting to see whether they they think he’ll be as involved in the offense over the next three years as he’s been in his past three, and if an underwhelming 2019 season was just an aberration due to injuries.

Skills positions

  • WR Michael Thomas, 53 (95%)
  • WR Tre’Quan Smith, 41 (73%)
  • TE Jared Cook, 33 (59%)
  • WR Ted Ginn Jr., 32 (57%)
  • TE Josh Hill, 27 (48%)
  • WR Deonte Harris, 6 (11%)
  • WR Lil’Jordan Humphrey, 3 (5%)

Smith was on the field for 41 snaps and only has one stat in the box score: a drop, which bounced off both of his hands in a pass he should have caught in stride while streaking down the seam. He can’t be playing this often while contributing so little, it’s just a waste of everyone’s time. Cook at least caught all five of his targets; the question there is why the Saints forgot to utilize him until they were down by 10 points late in the game. He should be more involved in his second season with the team, and hopefully youngsters like Smith and Harris will show the team more as they get better-versed in the Saints offense. But they absolutely cannot go into training camp with this same talent-deficit group.

Offensive line

  • T Ryan Ramczyk, 56 (100%)
  • T Terron Armstead, 56 (100%)
  • C Erik McCoy, 56 (100%)
  • G Larry Warford, 56 (100%)
  • G Andrus Peat, 54 (96%)
  • G Nick Easton, 5 (9%)
  • G Patrick Omameh, 1 (2%)

Why wasn’t Peat pulled from this game? He’s been a weak spot in the Saints offensive line for years now, and Easton proved he can play competently at worst when Peat was sidelined by an injury earlier this season. Peat was beaten over and over again by the Vikings defensive line, and it’s no coincidence that Brees immediately connected with his longest pass of the game (on a 20-yard scoring throw to Taysom Hill) when Peat stepped out to get his ankle re-taped. Easton may or may not be the answer at left guard in 2020, but there’s no question that Peat isn’t.

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Studs and Duds from Saints’ disappointing playoffs defeat vs. Vikings

The New Orleans Saints fell to the Minnesota Vikings in the playoffs wild-card round. Star talent like Marshon Lattimore didn’t show up.

The New Orleans Saints were stunned by the Minnesota Vikings in Sunday’s wild-card round game, and it’s because their star talent failed to show up. The biggest names on the team — a roster stocked with Pro Bowlers and first-team All-Pro talent — largely didn’t show up, playing small in the most important game of the year. It’s disquieting, because this is pretty much the same squad the Saints will try to bounce back with next season.

But it wasn’t all bad. Some players fought hard and put the team on their back to try and find a spark. Here are the studs and duds from the final Saints game of the 2019-2020 season:

Stud: Taysom Hill, quarterback

Hill became the first player in NFL history to throw for 50 yards, rush for 50 yards, catch 25 or more yards, and record a tackle. There were times in the game when he was the only player on offense making a play, highlighted by his 28-yard run down the sideline late in the fourth quarter. Hill played the best football of his career on Sunday, and it’s a shame that the Saints couldn’t reward him for his efforts.

Dud: Marshon Lattimore, cornerback

Lattimore picked a bad time to have his worst game of the year. He was charged with manning up against Vikings wideout Adam Thielen, who had missed a lot of time with a hamstring injury, and wasn’t up to the task. Lattimore was too often beaten by Thielen’s routes and frequently found himself a step too slow to compete at the catch point, which has been his forte early in his NFL career. Thielen led the Vikings with 129 receiving yards, having caught 7-of-9 targets, largely with Lattimore shadowing him.

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Antonio Brown takes credit for Saints, Patriots playoff exits

Free agent WR Antonio Brown suggested the New Orleans Saints and New England Patriots exited the playoffs wild-card round because of him.

You know what the New Orleans Saints’ playoffs saga needed to really put a cherry on top? Input from Antonio Brown, said no one but Antonio Brown.

Brown chimed in from his official Twitter account with a post suggesting the Saints’ loss to the Minnesota Vikings in the wild-card round was the result of a curse he put on them, connecting their elimination to previous exits from other teams connected to him.

That includes the New England Patriots (who lost to the Tennessee Titans on Saturday), the Oakland Raiders and Pittsburgh Steelers (both teams that needed some things to break their way to even make the playoffs, which they did not get), and the Buffalo Bills (who were beaten by the Houston Texans).

The Bills once tried to acquire Brown while he was with the Steelers, but the trade fell apart, so his connection with them is even less concrete than that between him and the Saints, who worked him outwith five other free agent wide receivers.

It’s a ridiculous thing for Brown to assert, but he’s all about acting ridiculously these days. He can’t get a job with the Saints or anyone else, so acting like a court jester on social media might be all that’s left for him.

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Al Riveron explains why there was no OPI foul in final play of Saints-Vikings

NFL officiating chief Al Riveron explained why Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph was not fouled for pass interference against the Saints.

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?

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