Alan Truex: Grieving Saints, Part 2: Congress gets involved

In New Orleans, The City that Care Forgot, we now see a city that cares very much about something.  It’s grieving for a football season that died prematurely. To be precise, two weeks short of a Super Bowl that would have included the New Orleans Saints if not for the most flagrant non-call by officials in the city since the speakeasy era.

Earlier in the week there was excitement among Saints fans about Commissioner Goodell possibly suspending Sunday’s 26-23 overtime decision by the LA Rams in the Super Dome.  

Bylaws give the commissioner the power to replay the game – in its entirety or perhaps just from the point where Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman was excused for head-bashing and man-handling Tommylee Lewis on a 3rd-and-10 from the 13 with the score tied and under two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.  

The appeal to Roger Goodell accomplished nothing.  Really, N’Awlins, what was you expecting?

Next up in the Sore Loser Sweepstakes: U.S. congressman from Louisiana Cedric Richmond.  He announced he consulted “with colleagues on the Judiciary Antitrust Committee” about summoning Goodell to testify “about the unfair call against the Saints, a call that he has the jurisdiction to overturn.”

Part of the government is shut down, but not the part that deals with football.

Not that we can’t all sympathize with the Saints and their fans.                                                                 

There have been other NFL postseason miscalls as impactful as this one, but perhaps none that met such unanimity of disapproval.  

Robey-Coleman said after the game that “I thought I was going to get flagged.  Yes I got there too early. I was beat and I was trying to save a touchdown.”

So how did it happen?  All of America, not just Southeast Louisiana, wants to know.  

First, there’s an incompetent back judge who needs witness protection.  He was lucky to escape town before the locals could catch up to him and the rest of his crew at their hotel.

Whoever the poor fellow was, none of his crewmates had his back.  

Tony Dungy, Hall of Fame coach, attributed the lack of teamwork to the NFL’s curious practice of treating the postseason as an All-Star tournament for game officials.  

We’re not seeing the best team of officials, but an All-Star collection of individuals who have not been working with one another. Dungy said on Dan Patrick’s show that the great blunder of last Sunday “never would have happened in the regular season.”

Which leads to the unsettling conclusion that the back judge in question was one of the best ones the league employs.  Can we be spared from the worst?

So I take this opportunity to plead again for full-time professional refs for professional football.  This is no job for moonlighters, for guys who show up with a band one night a week to play their saxophones and drums.  

Is it too much to ask for officials who work 40-hour weeks, even in the off-season, to perfect their all-important craft?

And by all means, let P.I. be subject to coach’s challenge.  Give each coach one more challenge, for use on any call or non-call.   

As for NFC Championship Game Replay, it’s logical to think the Rams would have won it anyway.  

The longer they played the Saints, the more obvious was the Rams’ superiority.  Proceeding from a 13-0 deficit, the visitors dominated the trenches, and they outran the Saints on the perimeter.  Mismatch of the day: Rams substitute slot receiver Josh Reynolds outrunning linebacker Demario Davis for a 33-yard catch.  

The Saints had no answer to Aaron Donald and Ndamukong Suh blowing up the middle of their line. Drew Brees could not get comfortable in the pocket. Jared Goff played better. And the fact that Tommylee Lewis was called on for the most critical play of the season tells you about receiver depth.  They have Michael Thomas and Alvin Kamara and no other receiver Sean McVay would want.

And face it, Brees at 40 can’t sling the ball downfield like he used to do.  For the final third of the season he’s been aging before our eyes, losing a little of his fastball week by week.  As Chris Simms pointed out on Pro Football Talk, “There are certain things in the playbook that Sean Payton can’t dial up for Brees that he would have four and five years ago — a big post, a big aggressive throw down the seam or a deep out.”

Sorry, N’Awlins, but it’s time to get over it.  ‘Cause it’s over. All over except, perhaps, the crying.