Saints coach Sean Payton doesn’t know if the Broncos went out of bounds on the blocked XP return either

The New Orleans Saints lost to the Broncos on Sunday after Denver’s Will Parks recovered a blocked PAT attempt at the end of the game and returned it for two points, giving the Broncos a 25-23 victory. Although it looked like Parks may have stepped out of bounds during the return, Saints head coach Sean Payton said it’s difficult to tell for certain.

“It’s hard to tell,” Payton said on Monday. “I think those guys [officials] are doing their best to look at it. He has white shoes on and [the] sidelines are white, so there is not a really good picture. At least, I did not see one.”

Payton is correct. It’s difficult to tell whether Parks stepped out of bounds.

The NFL’s head of officiating, Dean Blandino, said there just wasn’t conclusive evidence showing whether Parks stepped out of bounds.

The Broncos were able to block the PAT attempt after Jared Crick pushed the long snapper to the ground, allowing Justin Simmons to leap to the ball.

It was similar to a play that the Seahawks executed against the Cardinals on Sunday Night Football in Week 7, drawing Bruce Arians’ ire. Arians said the play was “bullshit” and should be illegal, but it’s not.

Payton acknowledged as much.

“No, you’re allowed to jump,” Payton said. “It’s a strategy that most teams have [used]. At a certain point, in order to make it illegal, the center has to rise up a little bit and catch some contact with the player that is jumping. We should have been able to see it.

“It is one of those situations where you either change up your snap count, but the timing by him [Simmons] was good and we weren’t able to recognize the look. We should have.”

After several questions about the blocked PAT, Payton made it clear that he was ready to move on to other topics.

The loss dropped the Saints’ record to 4-5, placing New Orleans third in the NFC South.