NFL News: Can Commissioner Overturn Outcome Of Rams vs. Saints Based On Missed Call?

The NFL finally, publicly admitted that the on-field officials made a crucial mistake at the end of the NFC Championship Game between the New Orleans Saints and Los Angeles Rams, but Saints fans might not be pleased by what the league had to say.

In a brief filed in response to a lawsuit asking the league to replay the game, the league made its first public acknowledgement that the refs missed the huge pass interference call near the end of regulation. Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman tackled Saints receiver Tommylee Lewis while the pass was in the air, but no flag was thrown.

The statement, tweeted by Hollywood Reporter editor Eriq Garner, admitted the mistake.

However, this will do little to appease those who want the game replayed on fairer terms. In the same statement, the NFL went on to dismiss the notion that Rule 17, Section 2, Article 1 allows commissioner Roger Goodell to change the result of the game. Some, including Saints receiver Michael Thomas, allege that the commissioner could act based on the article, which is as follows:

“The Commissioner has the sole authority to investigate and take appropriate disciplinary and/or corrective measures if any club action, non-participant interference, or calamity occurs in an NFL game which the Commissioner deems so extraordinarily unfair or outside the accepted tactics encountered in professional football that such action has a major effect on the result of the game.”

While the language in that rule is broad enough to suggest Goodell could do something about the outcome of the NFC title game, the league does not feel that way. In its legal brief, the NFL said the result was final, regardless of any human error.

“To our knowledge, no game has ever been replayed,” the NFL’s statement read. “This has been despite war, depression, natural disasters, civil disorder, terrorism or panic. And it has certainly been true notwithstanding errors in the enforcement of playing rules or even the deliberate evasion of those rules.”

The best Saints fans and players can hope for is the league changing pass interference rules in the offseason, perhaps to make it a reviewable play. As far as the NFL is concerned, the Rams won the NFC championship and that is final.

Those wanting to hear more from Goodell can tune into his pre-Super Bowl press conference on Wednesday. In other news, the league exercised its right to move the Saints lawsuit to federal court on Monday.