New Orleans Saints

New Orleans Saints owner Gayle Benson will do what she can to make sure other teams don't suffer the same fate as hers did in Sunday's NFC Championship Game loss to the Los Angeles Rams.

Benson released a statement that alluded to the blatant pass interference call on Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman the officials missed and said, in part, "Yesterday's result is still difficult to accept for all of us. ... I have been in touch with the NFL regarding yesterday's events and will aggressively pursue changes in NFL policies to ensure no team and fan base is ever put in a similar position again."

Adam Schefter of ESPN shared the entire statement:

After Sunday’s controversial loss to the Rams, Saints’ owner Gayle Benson released this statement today: pic.twitter.com/W0AJSCHtdX

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 21, 2019

Had the officials thrown a flag when Robey-Coleman hit receiver Tommylee Lewis well before Drew Brees' third-down pass arrived, the Saints would have been in a position where they could have run down the clock and kicked a game-winning field goal at the end of regulation to advance to the Super Bowl.

Instead, they settled for a field goal, which Greg Zuerlein answered to force overtime. Zuerlein then won the game with a 57-yarder in the extra period.

Benson's promise she will pursue changes comes after Mark Maske of the Washington Post cited a source who said the potential to make pass interference calls reviewable plays, "will be discussed at length along with additional fouls that coaches feel should be subject to review."

According to Pro Football Talk, the league will publicly admit the officials should have thrown a flag on the play.

Saints head coach Sean Payton told reporters, "Just getting off the phone with the league office. They blew the call."

While there may be changes implemented during the offseason after such an obvious missed call on the national stage of the NFC Championship Game, it won't do anything to put the Saints in the Super Bowl.

The team's fans are trying, though, and started a Change.org petition calling for a rematch with the Rams. More than 350,000 people had signed it at the time of writing.

Change.org petitions have helped save TV shows in the past.

Could one save the New Orleans Saints' season?

In a word: No.

But that isn't stopping a massive group of people from trying. Nearly 200,000 fans have signed a petition as of publication, calling on the NFL to give the Saints an NFC Championship Game rematch against the Los Angeles Rams.

"Refs missed a blatant pass interference call against the Los Angeles Rams late in fourth quarter of Jan. 20 NFC Championship game, possibly costing New Orleans Saints a trip to the SuperBowl. Due to refs’ inability to properly officiate at the game, we the undersigned want a re-match against L.A. on Sunday, Jan. 27. It’s the only fair solution to this travesty of epic proportions," a post by Terry Cassreino read.

The officials missed a pass interference and helmet-to-helmet hit by Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman with 1:45 remaining in Sunday's NFC Championship Game. Had the call been made, the Saints would have been able to drain the remaining time and set up a game-winning field-goal attempt.

New Orleans instead kicked a field goal the next play, giving the Rams the ball back with 1:41 remaining. The Rams subsequently drove 45 yards down the field before Greg Zuerlein hit a field goal to send the game to overtime. Zuerlein's 58-yard field goal later won the game in the extra period after a Drew Brees interception on the Saints' opening drive.

"We all want to get it right, right?" Saints coach Sean Payton said. "We've got the technology where we can...we've got plenty of technology to speed things up, and look, I'm on the competition committee, so hopefully that provides a voice. But I hope no other team has to lose a game the way we lost that one today, though. We were in a position, like I said, to be right on there on the 10-yard line, whatever-yard line, and be on our knee for three plays. It's disappointing."

"Listen, it's tough to get over it," Payton later said. "My problem, it was, I just don't know, if we were playing pickup football in the backyard, the team that committed the foul...it was as obvious a call, and how two guys can look at that and come up and arrive with their decision...it happened though, so we can't dwell on it. We'll probably never get over it."

It appears Saints fans aren't about to get over it anytime soon either.

Without one of the most egregious non-calls in NFL history, the New Orleans Saints likely would be headed to Super Bowl LIII. 

But with anything more than a mediocre performance from future Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees, the Saints may not have been affected by the officials in the waning moments of regulation during their 26-23 NFC Championship Game loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday. 

Brees isn't necessarily why the Saints lost, but he failed to become the reason they won. And when you're jockeying for position among legends, that's a problem. 

Brees has completed more passes for more yards than any player in NFL history, and for that and many other reasons, he's already a legend. But he's never been an MVP, and while he has one ring, the 40-year-old has gone to the Super Bowl only once in his 17 seasons as an NFL starter. 

On Sunday, he had his team up 13-0 at home against an inexperienced opponent that seemingly couldn't handle the decibel level at the Superdome. But after guiding New Orleans to 13 points in the first 14 minutes, Brees led his offense on only two more scoring drives for 10 points over the next 49 minutes. 

That stretch included four consecutive miserable mid-game drives that consumed almost no time and resulted in punts as the Saints clung to a shrinking lead.

There he was panicking in the face of the Los Angeles pass rush and forcing a too-early throw to a well-covered Alvin Kamara on a 3rd-and-5 in the second quarter. He had similar trouble maneuvering the pocket on back-to-back sacks on the next drive. Later, he forced a pass into tight coverage with an earlier-than-necessary throw on a 3rd-and-7. On the next fourth-quarter drive, he missed an open Ted Ginn Jr. on a massive 3rd-and-17 that he could have converted with an accurate throw. 

And on the highly controversial play that should have been pass interference against Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman, Brees made a bad decision and an even worse throw that would have been picked off by a more aware defensive player. 

"If Nickell Robey-Coleman plays the ball," Fox analyst Troy Aikman said on the broadcast, "it's an interception and he's probably going the other way with it." 

The no call pass interference was egregious yes. Saints took the lead anyway, only to easily allow the tie, Brees throws a pick and the game in OT. Who’s fault?(and I don’t like refs). https://t.co/M0BtdX1HyT

— Greg (@erjmanlasvegas) January 21, 2019

Brees was bailed out by poor coverage, and the officials bailed out the Rams defense.

But again, Brees had a chance to win this game anyway. He had the ball to start overtime, and a second-down make-up call following an incomplete pass for Dan Arnold gave his offense superb field position. Two plays later, he made another poor decision under pressure on an interception that led to L.A.'s game-winning field goal. 

He completed only five of his final 11 passes, and he wound up averaging just 6.2 yards per attempt with an 88.4 passer rating. 

Poor officiating didn't help, nor did shoddy pass-blocking down the stretch against a fierce defensive front. But Brees and the Saints scored 45 points on these Rams at the same site 10 weeks ago. And the Rams had given up nearly 31 points per game against opponents with winning records this season. 

All the Saints needed in regulation Sunday was 24, or 11 over the final three quarters. 

Legends are supposed to take care of business in situations like those, and they're supposed to be capable of overcoming myriad obstacles along the way. Brees failed. He failed to overcome that Rams pass rush, and he failed to to overcome bad breaks. 

And if has only the one Super Bowl on his resume whenever he walks away, it'll be fair to hold this performance—among others—against him, especially in comparison to contemporary peers like nine-time AFC champion Tom Brady, four-time AFC champ Peyton Manning, three-time AFC champ Ben Roethlisberger, two-time MVP Aaron Rodgers and two-time Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning. 

He may have other chances—"I plan on being here next year and making another run at it," he said after the game, per Josh Katzenstein of the Times-Picayune—but his window is closing swiftly. And considering how he and his offense performed down the stretch this season, it's fair to wonder whether we're looking at nothing more than a crack. 

Brees posted a mediocre 84.7 passer rating with three touchdown passes to three interceptions in his final four games of the regular season. He was good but not fabulous in last week's divisional-round victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, and he was worse on Sunday. Meanwhile, a Saints offense that averaged a league-high 37.2 points per game through Week 12 averaged only 19.7 points per game the rest of the way.

Brees' postseason statistics are generally strong, and shortcomings with his supporting cast should be considered when discussing his legacy. But at various points in their careers, Brady, the Manning brothers and Roethlisberger have dragged flawed teams across the finish line. And this Saints team had plenty of offensive talent, a surprisingly stellar defense and a highly accomplished coaching staff. 

You saw the difference between Brady and Brees in the overtimes today, in case there was any question.

— FantasyPros (@FantasyPros) January 21, 2019

That still wasn't enough to get the Saints back to the Super Bowl. As a result, Brees has only four playoff victories in the nine years that have passed since he won Super Bowl XLIV MVP.

With better luck, that number would be at least five. He and his teammates were victimized by the Minnesota Miracle last year, so the football gods haven't been kind as of late. But let's not forget that Brees also threw a pair of killer interceptions earlier in that game. 

Brees will always have his remarkable regular-season statistics and records, and he'll always have that unforgettable Super Bowl victory over Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts. The problem is that without more signature moments in January or February, it's going to be hard to compare him with the all-time greats at his position. 

Drew Brees asked if this loss was harder because he turned 40 this week and doesn't know how many more chances he'll have: "Yes it does. Yes it does."

— Mike Triplett (@MikeTriplett) January 21, 2019

You're welcome to argue that we wouldn't be having this conversation if Bill Vinovich's crew could spot textbook pass interference, or if Marcus Williams hadn't botched a tackle in a Hail Mary situation last January in Minnesota. However, Brees could have done more to prevent both of those excruciating losses from being decided by flukes. 

Tough-luck moments shouldn't get the Saints off the hook, and those moments shouldn't absolve Brees entirely. He could have been far better in his last two playoff losses, and he wasn't at his best when it mattered most for a team that had a clear path to the Super Bowl as the NFC's top seed. 

His legacy remains complicated, and he's running out of time to fix that. 

          

Brad Gagnon has covered the NFL for Bleacher Report since 2012.

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady reached the Super Bowl at age 41 with a victory Sunday, and 40-year-old Drew Brees will look to replicate that formula during the 2019 season—his 19th in the league.

"My mind's not even there right now. So this is all pretty fresh," Brees said when asked about whether he will return next season following the New Orleans Saints' 26-23 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Rams in Sunday's NFC Championship Game, per Mike Triplett of ESPN.com. "But [I'm] just going to take a few days to kind of let it all settle in, talk with my teammates and my coaches. But I plan on being here next year and making another run at it."

His Saints could have been in the Super Bowl following regulation was it not for a blatantly missed call by the officiating crew.

Brees' third-down pass to Tommylee Lewis with less than two minutes remaining in regulation fell incomplete, but only after Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman hit Lewis well before the ball arrived. The officials did not throw a flag, which forced the Saints to settle for a field goal before Greg Zuerlein forced overtime and won the game with two field goals of his own.

Brees, who has a Lombardi Trophy on his resume, also went through a heartbreaking loss in last season's playoffs against the Minnesota Vikings when Stefon Diggs scored on the game's final play in the divisional round on a deep pass that was misplayed by New Orleans' secondary.

The Purdue product is clearly still motivated to chase another Super Bowl and will return after he completed 74.4 percent of his passes for 3,992 yards, 32 touchdowns and five interceptions during the 2018 campaign.

Almost immediately after the game, the NFL's league office confirmed to New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton the officiating crew missed two penalties on the Los Angeles Rams in the fourth quarter of the NFC Championship Game.

"Just getting off the phone with the league office," Payton said to reporters, per the Times-Picayune's Josh Katzenstein. "They blew the call."

According to Payton, the NFL said Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman should've been flagged for pass interference and a helmet-to-helmet hit when he made contact with Saints receiver Tommylee Lewis before the ball arrived, per Kristian Garic of WWL Radio in New Orleans.

No flag. pic.twitter.com/2F9XyQlSik

— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) January 20, 2019

Robey-Coleman admitted he was concerned with breaking up the pass at any cost.

"Yes, I got there too early," he said, per The MMQB's Robert Klemko. "I was beat, and I was trying to save the touchdown."

The play in question happened on 3rd-and-10 with one minute, 48 seconds left in the game. Rather than receiving an automatic first down and setting up a 1st-and-goal, New Orleans had to settle for a 31-yard field goal by Wil Lutz to take a 23-20 lead. Greg Zuerlein tied it up on a 48-yarder with 15 seconds left.

Payton didn't hide how much the blown calls stung for his team.

Sean Payton: “I don’t know if there was ever a more obvious pass interference call.”

— Josh Katzenstein (@jkatzenstein) January 20, 2019

Sean Payton on the loss: “We’ll probably never get over it.”

— Josh Katzenstein (@jkatzenstein) January 20, 2019

Sean Payton: “I hope no other team loses a game the way we lost that game.” #BadCallNFL pic.twitter.com/q21Mw6cWQB

— Jarrett Bell (@JarrettBell) January 20, 2019

The Saints' 2017 season ended when Case Keenum connected with Stefon Diggs for the "Minneapolis Miracle." While that was a heartbreaking way for the year to end, New Orleans didn't necessarily have a reason to feel aggrieved. Sure, Marcus Williams completely whiffed on his attempted tackle, but Diggs' touchdown reception was mostly a fluke play that only happens so often.

Sunday's game was different in that seemingly everybody but the officiating crew could see Nickell-Robey interfered with Lewis. While the mistake didn't single-handedly cost the Saints the game, it undoubtedly provided the Rams with a lifeline.

New Orleans Saints tight end Josh Hill will miss the remainder of Sunday's NFC Championship Game after being diagnosed with a concussion, the team announced.

Hill had one reception for 24 yards prior to exiting the game. On the catch, he absorbed what appeared to be a helmet-to-helmet hit by Los Angeles Rams linebacker Cory Littleton.

Josh Hill gains 24 yards on the screen pass! #HomeInTheDome

📺: #LARvsNO on FOX pic.twitter.com/L6qfHHHWSO

— NFL (@NFL) January 20, 2019

New Orleans was already thin at tight end. Benjamin Watson missed practice Wednesday and Thursday and was limited Friday with an illness. Prior to Sunday's game, the Saints confirmed Watson was inactive.

Hill only had a peripheral role in the team's passing game in the regular season, catching 16 passes for 185 yards and a touchdown.

Now, New Orleans is forced to rely on Dan Arnold and Garrett Griffin, the latter of whom has one total reception in two years. Griffin did, however, haul in a five-yard touchdown pass from Drew Brees to put the Saints ahead 13-0 in the first quarter Sunday.

Brees shouldn't miss a beat with Hill unavailable.

New Orleans Saints fans are so loud they are damaging the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

Julie Boudwin of the Times-Picayune shared a picture revealing part of the ceiling of the stadium fell following DeMario Davis' interception on the Los Angeles Rams' first drive of Sunday's NFC Championship Game:

Apparently part of the ceiling fell near the media workroom in the Super Dome after DeMario Davis’ interception. That’s how loud #Saints fans are right now. pic.twitter.com/jkv0vEJeYZ

— Julie Boudwin (@Julie_Boudwin) January 20, 2019

Jared Goff's throw went right through the hands of Todd Gurley and to Davis, who sent the already loud crowd into a frenzy.

The passion and noise level of Saints fans is one of the reasons the team's regular season was so important. By going 13-3, New Orleans clinched home-field advantage through the NFC playoffs.

That was good news for the team and its fans but apparently not for the Superdome's ceiling.

The Los Angeles Rams had an opportunity to beat the New Orleans Saints in Week 9 of the 2018 season, but they fell short and dropped a 45-35 decision.

If the Rams are going to turn around that score in Sunday's NFC Championship Game, they are going to have to come through with a sharp offensive performance and do something to slow down Drew Brees and Michael Thomas when the Saints have the ball.

Both teams were 13-3 during the regular season, but the Saints are playing this title game in their home stadium because of their regular-season win over the Rams. At the time of the first meeting, Los Angeles was 8-0. However, New Orleans was more effective, and the Rams were unable to stop the Brees-to-Thomas combination.

Thomas was basically unstoppable in Week 9, as he caught 12 passes for 211 yards and a touchdown. He had a brilliant regular season, with 125 catches for 1,405 yards and nine touchdowns, and he has the size, strength, speed, moves and hands to make big plays on a consistent basis.

Both teams have a slew of big-play makers. Brees completed 74.4 percent of his passes during the regular season, and he had a 32-5 TD-interception ratio.

Alvin Kamara is a devastating back who can do as much damage as a receiver as he can as a runner. Mark Ingram is a power back who can tire out a defense with his runs between the tackles.

The Rams need 24-year-old quarterback Jared Goff to be at the top of his game. Goff was solid during the regular season, but he was more consistent in the first half of the season than he was in the second. Goff threw for an average of 293.0 yards per game, and 32 of his passes went for touchdowns and he had 12 interceptions.

The Rams have a two-headed running attack with Todd Gurley and C.J. Anderson. Gurley was a Most Valuable Player candidate well into the second half of the season, but after he suffered a knee injury, Anderson took over and ran with abandon.

Gurley is back in the lineup, and head coach Sean McVay is using both backs. Gurley and Anderson both exceeded the 100-yard mark in the divisional round against the Dallas Cowboys.

The running back appreciates what Anderson has done for the Rams and acknowledged that the two have already developed a good working rapport. "It's good to have him," Gurley said, per Gary Klein of the Los Angeles Times. "I got hurt for a reason, and it seems like that was one of the missing pieces."

Robert Woods and Brandin Cooks are big-play receivers, but there's little doubt that Goff misses injured wideout Cooper Kupp, who went out after the midway point of the season with a knee injury.

The Saints are three-point favorites over the Rams, per OddsShark. The total in the game is 56.5 points.

The Rams are in a tough position in this game, as road teams have not fared well in the NFC title game. Visitors are 0-10 straight up in the last 10 NFC Championship Games.

New Orleans clearly loves playing at the Superdome and is 15-2 in its past 17 home games. The Saints are also 9-0 at home in games against opponents with winning records.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6S9_wYVhBM

                 

Prediction

The combination of Gurley and Anderson at running back is a positive for the Rams. Gurley is one of the best running backs in the league, while Anderson has excellent power and can pick up the Los Angeles offense. He won't go down on first contact and has moves to make opponents miss.

Still, it appears to be a difficult matchup for L.A. The Saints can be a devastating team at home, and their fans can rev up the noise level when the defense is on the field. That will make life difficult for Goff, who is a much more effective leader at home than he is on the road.

The combination of Brees and Thomas is lethal, and the running and receiving of Kamara is likely to be too much for the Rams.

Look for New Orleans to win and cover in a high-scoring game that goes over the 56.5-point total. 

The Los Angeles Rams have a difficult task ahead of them in Sunday's NFC title game with the New Orleans Saints.

They have a chance to win the NFC earn a spot in Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta February 3, but they are going to have to beat the league's most consistent team at the Superdome if that is going to happen.

The Rams had a chance to do that earlier this season, but they fell 45-35 in Week 9. The Saints have appeared unstoppable at times this season.

                  

NFC Championship Game: Los Angeles Rams at New Orleans Saints

Date: Sunday, January 20, at 3:05 p.m. ET

TV and Streams: Fox, Fox Sports Go and fuboTV

Spread: Saints -3 (per OddsShark)

New Orleans dropped its season opener to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and rested most of its key players in the regular-season finale defeat to the Carolina Panthers. The Saints won 13 of 14 games in between those two losses and proved their dominance nearly every week.

The Rams will depend on head coach Sean McVay to force the New Orleans defense into a guessing game with his play-calling. That's an area that McVay has excelled in during the past two seasons.

"There's certain moments in games where being a good play caller—you can't teach it—but there's certain moments where you have to go for that dagger or you have to pull back a little bit," Rams quarterback Jared Goff said Friday, per Brett Martel of the Associated Press (h/t the Boston Globe). "There's just different ebbs and flows in games. I think he's got a great feel for that."

McVay refused to take credit for his skills in that area, deferring to Saints head coach Sean Payton because of his experience and long-term success in the game.

"He's been doing it at really high level for a lot longer than I have," McVay said. "He's an outstanding coach—clearly referenced by the way that his team is playing this year, how they've played over the course of his career when he's been leading the Saints. So, I don't think we're in that category yet."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P92jJ-Pw-m0

The Rams are going to have to play better defense than they did in their earlier loss to the Saints. Wideout Michael Thomas had a brilliant season with 125 receptions, and he had 211 receiving yards in the win over the Rams.

Los Angeles cornerback Aqib Talib explained why Thomas is so tough to defend, per Clarence Dennis of TheRams.com: "He's got a Hall of Fame quarterback (in Drew Brees). Anytime you're a receiver and you got a Hall of Fame quarterback, that's going to take you to the next level, man. Then he's big, he's fast, he's got great hands, great body control."

When the Rams have the ball, they are going to need the 24-year-old Goff to stay calm and not get overwhelmed by the moment. It seems fairly obvious that the 40-year-old Brees can handle himself in a championship game, but Goff has to demonstrate that he can perform at a peak level when it matters most. He is clearly excited by his opportunity.

"It's always something you dream about growing up is being able to play in the Super Bowl," Goff said. "Even playing in the NFC championship is a dream come true. We're excited for it. It's an opportunity you work for and I think we see it as something that we've earned."

Payton said that the Saints will be depending on their fans to fill the Superdome with noise and disrupt the Rams offense.

"What's important for our fan base is understanding when that crowd noise needs to begin differently this week than normal weeks," Payton said, per the Associated Press (h/t Yahoo Sports). "That crowd noise needs to begin just as that last play finished. You get 65, 70 snaps of that crowd noise earlier than normal and louder than normal, it's difficult."

One of Payton's great strengths is his ability to use all of his roster to gain an advantage over his opponents. 

"It's a chess match," New Orleans wideout Austin Carr said, per Luke Johnson of NOLA.com. "You hear that said a lot, but I actually see the strategy in the different moving pieces that he has every week."

                

By the numbers

Look for another high-scoring matchup for these two teams. Perhaps they won't reach the 80-point mark they did in Week 9, but 60 points or more seems likely.

The Saints have the home-field advantage, a veteran quarterback and a loud home crowd that will make it difficult on Goff. The Saints win by seven points or more as the Brees-to-Thomas combination proves impossible to stop.

                  

Rams stats

Goff: 250 passing yards, two touchdowns, one interception

Todd Gurley: 80 rushing yards, one touchdown

Robert Woods: 85 receiving yards, one touchdown

Brandin Cooks: 75 receiving yards, one touchdown

Saints stats

Brees: 285 passing yards, three touchdowns

Alvin Kamara: 85 rushing yards, one touchdown; 55 receiving yards, one touchdown

Thomas: 150 receiving yards, two touchdowns

New Orleans Saints tight end Benjamin Watson will reportedly miss Sunday's NFC Championship Game against the Los Angeles Rams because of appendicitis, per Katherine Terrell of ESPN.

Terrell noted Watson hasn't undergone surgery but has missed two practices.

The 38-year-old University of Georgia product has spent time in the hospital but should be available for the Super Bowl if New Orleans advances and he avoids surgery, per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.

Watson sat out the 2016 campaign because of a torn Achilles. He otherwise hasn't missed a regular-season game since 2013 and has appeared in 194 of a possible 208 contests since 2005, not counting 2016.

The typically durable Virginia native tallied 35 receptions for 400 yards and two touchdowns in 2018. He had one catch for 12 yards in last week's 20-14 divisional-round win over the Philadelphia Eagles.

Watson announced in December he planned to retire following the Saints' playoff run.

"You hope you get to exit on your own terms," he told reporters. "You hope to exit with a great win."

He'll depend on his New Orleans teammates to help him make those comments reality since he won't get a chance to help against the Rams in the NFC title game.

Josh Hill will remain in the starting lineup, but Watson's absence should create more chances for Dan Arnold and Taysom Hill, the backup quarterback who's operated in a hybrid playmaker role for New Orleans on offense and special teams.