Under the new PI review rules, Super Bowl LIII could have been very different

It’s not surprising that after one of the worst non-calls in playoff annals, the NFL voted 31-1 to expand replay to include pass interference, whether it’s called or not called on the field. (The Bengals were the lone “No” vote).

It’s quite possible that the Saints, and not the Rams, would have played the Patriots in last season’s Super Bowl had Bill Vinovich’s crew called one of the most obvious and missed double penalties in NFL history. Not only did cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman commit pass interference on receiver Tommylee Lewis, he also committed a helmet-to-helmet hit, for which he was later fined over $26,000.

Imagine not allowing the Saints to get to the Super Bowl because you thought this wasn’t a penalty pic.twitter.com/cyPNmkGUiB

— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) January 20, 2019

As it turned out, the Rams wound up with a bit of weird officiating karma in the Super Bowl. As Michael Giardi of the NFL Network pointed out, this play in which Patriots cornerback Stephon Gilmore held the arm of receiver Brandin Cooks should have also been pass interference, but it also wasn’t called.

The competition committee said this play should have been interference and the #Rams would have gotten the ball on the 1-yard line. I pointed this out that night (some of you were irritated). It was subtle but by the letter of the law… pic.twitter.com/TdJi2YBnzw

— Michael Giardi (@MikeGiardi) March 27, 2019

If Rams head coach Sean McVay would have been able to challenge the non-call, and it was proclaimed pass interference, the Rams would have had the ball at the New England one-yard line with a chance to tie the game at 10-10, Just as we will never know what might have happened in the NFC CHampionshup game had the officiating been correct, we’ll never know how that would have changed the outcome of the lowest-scoring Super Bowl ever.

The Patriots won, 13-3, but this was the penultimate play of a drive in which McVay’s team had finally started to get things going on offense. Quarterback Jared Goff threw a pass that Cooks should have had the full opportunity to catch, but that didn’t happen. And on the next play, Gilmore intercepted another Goff pass to Cooks, effectively ending the game with 4:24 left in regulation.

The point of this new rule, of course, is not to re-legislate a championship game or a Super Bowl. It is to ensure, as much as possible, that officiating is correct, leading to an honest result to any football game.

It’s too late for the 2018 Saints and Rams, but hopefully, at least one 2019 team will benefit from a rule change that is long, long overdue.