Rams DB Nickell Robey-Coleman hits Saints WR TommyLee Lewis on a questionable no-call in the 4th Quarter of the NFC Championship Game. Photo Courtesy: The Washington Post
In the last 15 years, the NFC had 11 different teams make it to the Super Bowl, while the AFC has only had 6 different teams. In those 15 years, the New England Patriots have been in the Super Bowl 8 times. It's at the point where many fans are getting tired of seeing Tom Brady and the Patriots in the Super Bowl. Throughout the years the Patriots have done some questionable things such as Spygate and Deflategate. There have also been times that things didn't look to be going the Patriots way such as Super Bowl 51 when they were down 28-3 and still managed to win the game. In the AFC Championship, there were a couple of questionable calls that helped the Patriots. This showed the double standard between Tom Brady and basically any other quarterback. Tom Brady’s shoulder got tapped by a Chiefs defender and it got called roughing the passer thus, extending the Patriots drive. The same penalty should have been called on the Patriots when Patrick Mahomes got clobbered by a Patriots defender, but there was no call. It might seem that the Patriots have all the calls go their way, which might be true, but NFL officiating this year has been historically bad and multiple teams have suffered from it.
This bad officiating may be because seven experienced officials retired prior to this season leaving seven rookies to take their place, or it may be because of how some rules are interpreted. In the AFC Wild Card game when the Chargers played the Ravens, the refs overturned three touchdowns in three plays. At one point the Ravens returned a fumble for a touchdown but it got overturned. Then the Chargers scored but it got overturned until finally, the Chargers scored and the refs let that one stand. Coincidentally the same day, the officials seemed to mess up a call in the Bears-Eagles Wild Card game. Bears receiver Anthony Miller caught a pass and had it ripped out by an Eagles defender. Any other time, this would have been a fumble but, “since there was no clear recovery” it somehow became an incomplete pass. Perhaps the most questionable call came in the NFC Championship game. It was third down with a few minutes left in the game, the Saints had the opportunity to get the first down and essentially ice the game and go to the Super Bowl but, the refs did not let that happen. Tommylee Lewis was going out to catch a pass from Drew Brees that would have given them the 1st down but Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman tackled him prior to the ball reaching him That was obvious pass interference and even Robey-Coleman admitted after the game that it was PI but the refs did not call it. That led to the Saints kicking a field goal and the Rams brought the game to OT and won the game. All of these plays influenced the game and possibly changed the outcome of them. If the NFL had good officiating we can be seeing a very different Super bowl maybe a Bears-Chargers, or a Saints-Chiefs Super Bowl.