The NFL can be cruel. New Orleans Saints fans knew that already, but they were given an ugly reminder late in their Week 12 game against the Carolina Panthers, when Panthers coach Ron Rivera challenged a non-call for defensive pass interference against Saints safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson.
And he got it. The officials huddled over the instant replay review station and gave Carolina the nod: the Panthers were given a fresh set of downs from the New Orleans 3-yard line. It didn’t matter because the Saints defense buckled down and forced the Panthers into an unsuccessful field goal try, but the fact that this was the one instance in which the officials overturned a call on the field — against a team that was so publicly victimized in similar circumstances in last year’s conference championship game — is such cruel irony. Saints coach Sean Payton spearheaded the effort to make pass-interference (called or not) reviewable, and his team ended up catching the brunt of it.
Especially considering the type of plays that weren't called PI this season, this is as weak as it gets but the league hates the #Saints so here it is.pic.twitter.com/Rkx2XEee2o
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) November 24, 2019
According to ESPN Stats and Info, NFL coaches went into Week 12 having overturned 3 of 74 (4%) such challenges. League officiating established a precedent that required overwhelming evidence to overturn the result as called on the field, and in this one situation, it ended up biting New Orleans.
Fortunately, it didn’t matter. The Saints followed up that field goal miss with their own drive down the field, capping it off with a Wil Lutz game-winner from 33 yards out. Hopefully this bizarre use of the replay review rules doesn’t hurt them again.
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