Are the NFC Champions Fraudulent?

Four Superbowl contestant teams played in Sundays playoff games; Both games went into a static overtime and two teams left with their NFC/AFC trophy in hand. The NFC Champions were the LA Rams and the AFC Champions were the NE Patriots.

Simultaneously, questions in regards to overtime, referees, and replays are the current hot topics.

Are any of these topics warranted to actually change?

In the NFC game, the Los Angeles Rams played the New Orleans Saints in a 26-23 OT Rams W. There was an obvious pass interference or even a questionable helmet-to-helmet hit on the LA Rams that could’ve shifted the game. There’s no denying it possibly could’ve changed the outcome; however not to take away from this Rams win. The Rams took an early lead against the Saints and geared the game in mostly their favor. However, even one obvious missed call in a given game raises questions about other plays. One of the Saints wide receivers, Michael Thomas is very vocally bringing attention to a literal game changing rule: Rule 17: Section 2, Article 3.

The simple explanation of this rule is that NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell can reverse the game’s result or reschedule the game in question. This is reserved for only the case of “extraordinary acts”, and this can only transpire at Roger Goodell’s discretion. From my own point of view, there’s no actual chance this will occur no matter how blatant this missed call was.

There were other minor issues like the missed face mask on Jared Goff, which was late in the game and the Rams still managed to own the win. This is where the validity of the game results come to light. Yes, it was an obvious pass interference even admitted by the Rams corner, Nichell Robey-Coleman. Now the public is questioning if pass interference calls should be reviewable, especially in the last two minutes. And based solely off this one massive missed call, the Rams are being overexamined as the “fraud” team in the Superbowl. The Rams will be remembered going into this Superbowl game unfairly. Some will still recall the Sean Mcvay lead team who earned their Super Bowl position by their fluid Offense and gritty Defense. But based off the circulating social media posts and overall NFL fan base, the Rams will be remembered as the team that might not even deserve to be there. This unfortunately discredits Jared Goff and the Rams 13-3 season on a higher scale because this was their entry into the Superbowl. Now there’s no real guarantees especially in football, but the New Orleans Saints should’ve at least had a moved field advantage after this penalty. In theory, it could’ve shifted the game in favor of the Saints.

The NFL stated in the future, they will be evaluating the review of pass interference calls.

Hopefully, this will build some rapport or restore the lost confidence in the fairness of  the game, and also prevent an incident like this from happening again.

“My parents would always say, ‘It doesnt’ matter if it’s a guy picking up the garbage or the President of the United States, treat everybody as you would want to be treated. -Dan Marino