New Orleans Saints Fall Victim to Officiating Error Against LA Rams

The New Orleans Saints cannot seem to catch a break with the officials, as they were victims of yet another officiating error. This took place during their Week 2 rematch against the Los Angeles Rams.

As it turned out, Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan seemed to return a fumble 87 yards for a touchdown late in the second quarter Sunday. However, the officials initially ruled the play as an incomplete pass by Jared Goff, so they called the play dead.

Naturally, the Saints challenged the call, replays showed that Goff fumbled the ball when it was stripped from behind by defensive end Trey Hendrickson. However, the Saints had to take over at their own 13-yard line and did not score on the ensuing drive.

Jordan had a clear path to the end zone after scooping up the loose ball in stride. So this call was all the more gutting

Sunday’s call pales in comparison to the infamous missed pass interference call that helped the Rams beat the New Orleans Saints in January’s NFC Championship Game. That led to replay rule changes in the offseason. But this remains a disturbing pattern for the Saints, who also were the victims of an embarrassing gaffe by the officials in their season-opening 30-28 victory over the Houston Texans on Monday Night Football.

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In that game, the NFL’s senior vice president of officiating, Al Riveron, admitted that officials forgot to reset the play clock in the final minute of the first half after a replay review — which cost the Saints 15 precious seconds and led to a missed 56-yard field goal attempt.

When asked about the play on Sunday, coach Sean Payton immediately said the Saints can’t focus on that. Instead, he stressed on the need to focus on “the things we can control”. Though that did not stop him from taking a jab at the officials during his response.

“When we get poor officiating or we get an awful call like that, we can’t control that,” Payton said.

An equalled miffed Jordan made a “Foot Locker” reference while taking a not-so-subtle shot at the official himself.

“Normally you let the play happen. Any Foot Locker — I mean referee — tells you that you let the play happen and then you go back and review the play. That’s a 10-point swing right there. … Seems like it’s affect the game, right?”

“Hence, why there was no slowdown by anybody. Everybody was full-go. Everybody understood what happened,” said Jordan, who then quickly added, “I shouldn’t say everybody.

“People are in their prime when they’re in their prime. And sometimes they’re not in their prime, but they were in their prime maybe a decade ago.”