First off, I’m in not a fan of both teams that played earlier, I’m just telling it in this post like it is.

It happened again for the New Orleans Saints and their fans.

This time in today’s Wild Card game against the Minnesota Vikings, the Saints were eliminated in overtime thanks to a touchdown from Minnesota quarterback Kirk Cousins to tight end Kyle Rudolph. But there was a hunch.

The Saints strongly believe that the referees missed an offensive pass interference (OPI) call on Rudolph, after a clear pushoff by Rudolph helped secure the catch and win. That touchdown was reviewed by the league afterwards and it was deemed not an OPI.

And just a couple hours later, ESPN’s NFL rules expert and former referee John Parry said in a tweet that the play indeed, had a missed offense pass interference.

But, a lot of fans, like myself, may have missed Saints defensive back Marcus Williams grab the arm of Rudolph, according to a picture tweet online (seen below).

https://twitter.com/johnparryespn/status/1213943839649619973?s=21
https://twitter.com/lars292/status/1213955803155181569?s=21

For Saints fans, this is the third straight year their team couldn’t cash in on a golden playoff opportunity. Back in 2017, the Saints lost the the Stefon Diggs’ Minneapolis Miracle thanks to a missed tackle, and in last year’s NFC Championship Game when a few major missed penalties costed them the game and a Super Bowl berth.

The controversy got so bad that the instant replay/challenges were now put in place for pass interference calls.

Just another tough loss in playoffs for New Orleans, and maybe the second straight loss marred by an alleged referee’s mistake yet again.

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