The New Orleans Saints escaped Sunday afternoon’s matchup against the Carolina Panthers with a 34-31 victory thanks to a 33-yard Wil Lutz FG.
Saints coach Sean Payton said he was happy New Orleans was able to get the win especially since the Saints did have their best outing.
“It wasn’t our best game and by far it wasn’t their best game and quite honestly it wasn’t New York’s best game. So it is what it is,” Payton said.
The Saints were penalized 12 times for 123 yards Sunday. But the flags that had the attention of Saints fans were a couple of challenged pass interference calls — one overturned and one that wasn’t.
New NFL rules allow coaches to challenge whether there was or was not pass interference on any given play. The rule was instituted after last season’s NFC Championship Game, when a missed call contributed to the Saints loss to the Rams. So far, most of the challenged plays this season have not been overturned.
“It was kind of my impression, based on what I’ve seen this year, is they’re not going to overturn anything unless it’s like what happened in the NFC Championship, where it’s a total timing thing and prevents the tragedy,” Saints quarterback Drew Brees said. “Now one got overturned today. That’s one out of I don’t know how many that haven’t. That was interesting. Why that one versus some others.
“Again, at some point, there is someone that’s making a judgement call, a human decision that’s being made. It’s impossible for that to always be consistent.”
The overturned play came during the fourth quarter of the game when Panthers coach Ron Rivera challenged what initially appeared to be a third-down stop. After the review Saints rookie defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson was flagged for pass interference.
The league’s Senior Vice President of officiating, Al Riveron, addressed the call after the game.
“After reviewing it, it was clear and obvious through visual evidence that the defender significantly hinders the receiver while the ball is in the air, therefore, it’s defensive pass interference.”
The Saints’ defense was able to hold the Panthers to a field goal attempt that was ultimately missed but fans in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome loudly voiced their displeasure with the game’s officials, especially after they’d watched an earlier pass interference call against the Saints be upheld following a review.
Early in the first quarter, Drew Brees connected with tight end Jared Cook for a 42-yard gain. However, the play was called back as Cook was flagged for offensive pass interference. Payton challenged the ruling as he and the tight end thought it was a good route.
“It was man-to-man and the defender had outside leverage,” Cook said. “He stayed on the numbers (and) created contact first. I’m trying to get him off of me to release back inside. When I released back inside, he just fell.
“It’s a matchup game and that’s what we are here to do. We are here to create matchups and take advantage of those matchups. What happens after that is not my fault. That’s all I can say about it.”
The call stood after the review and the Saints were forced to punt.
Payton, who was a member of the competition committee which pushed for the rule allowing the pass interference calls to be challenged said after the game he wasn’t sure if it’s interpretation was exactly where the committee hoped it would be.
“Sitting in on every one of those meetings, I don’t know that it’s exactly what we discussed, where we are today with it. In fact, I’m pretty sure that it’s not. But we’ve gotta be able to adjust to it.” Payton said.
Not all of the Saints penalties were controversial. Some, like Cam Jordan's personal foul against Panthers quarterback Kyle Allen, were self inflicted.
"That is a bonehead move," Jordan said. "I heard that whistle and tried to stop, but it ended up hurting the team. As fast as we go, we try to give 100 percent on every play. You can’t end up hurting your team like that, so that’s on me."
The Saints also suffered a few pre-snap penalties and had a couple hands to the face flags that Payton said his team needs to be smarter
"There's a ton that we have to build and clean up from this game. The challenge is doing it over (a) short week, getting ready to play Thursday.”
The Saints head to Atlanta for a Thanksgiving matchup with the Falcons.
