Roger Goodell Addresses Saints-Rams No-Call, Sean Payton Appears To Wear Shirt Mocking Commissioner

New Orleans Saints’ fans and players have been waiting to hear from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell about the blow pass interference call in the NFC Championship Game that ultimately kept the team out of the Super Bowl. Saints’ tight end Benjamin Watson took to social media to criticize Goodell’s silence on the matter, and head coach Sean Payton appeared to have been wearing a t-shirt mocking the commissioner during his season-ending press conference Wednesday.

A few hours after Payton met with reporters, Goodell held a press conference from Atlanta, where the Los Angeles Rams will challenge the New England Patriots in four days. Goodell was asked about the pass interference call that should’ve been made 10 days ago.

Here’s Goodell’s full response:

We understand the frustration of the fans. I’ve talked to coach Payton, the team, the players. We understand the frustration that they feel right now, and we certainly want to address that.

Whenever officiating is part of any kind of discussion post-game, it’s never a good outcome for us. We know that. Our clubs know that. Our officials know that. But we also know our officials are human. We also know that they’re officiating a game that moves very quickly and have to make snap decisions under difficult circumstances and they’re not gonna get it right every time. As I say, they’re human.

We have worked very hard to bring technology in to try to make sure we can do whatever is possible to address those issues, but technology’s not gonna solve all those issues. The game’s not officiated by robots. It’s not going to be. But we have to continue to go down that path.

Go back specifically on Sunday night. I think coach Payton spoke to Al Riveron, our head of officials, immediately after the game. Al told him that’s a play we want to have called. I have spoken to him. Troy Vincent, head of operations, has spoken to him. I’ve spoken to (Saints' owner) Mrs. Benson. Coach has also spoken to competition committee chairman Rich McKay. So there’s been a great deal of communication in making sure they understand that.

As far as where we can go: we will look again at instant replay. There have been a variety of proposals over the last 15-20 years of, ‘should replay be expanded?’ It does not cover judgement calls. This was a judgement call. The other complication is that it was a no-call, and our coaches and clubs have been very resistant and there has not been support to date about having a replay official or somebody in New York throw a flag when there is no flag. They have not voted for that in the past. It doesn’t mean that we won’t. It’s something that we’re gonna put to the competition committee and see if there’s an answer to that. But the reality has been that’s at least an opposition philosophically for many clubs.

It’s hard to believe that response will satisfy New Orleans or their fans, some of whom are suing the NFL and demanding that the end of the conference title game be replayed. The league admitted the officials got the call wrong in a response to the lawsuit.