Why Kyle Rudolph’s Wild Card-winning catch vs. the Saints wasn’t overturned on review

The Saints have been here before. A crucial playoff game at home turns into a loss thanks to a pass interference no-call at a vital juncture.

In 2019, it was Nickell Robey-Coleman’s pre-catch hit on Tommylee Lewis — a blatant missed penalty that convinced the league to make pass interference reviewable the following season. In 2020, it came on the other side of the ball: an offensive kinda/sorta push-off from Kyle Rudolph that slammed the door on the Saints’ postseason run.

That touchdown ended the game in overtime, and officials on the field appeared to neglect their duty to review the potential interference via replay. While announcers would later reveal the review took place in the league’s New York offices rather than on the field, that still left New Orleans fans with a sour taste in their mouths for the second straight season and searching for answers from the officials.

Those answers came soon after the game — but they aren’t going to make the Saints feel any better.

Senior Vice President of Officiating Al Riveron spoke with The Athletic’s Larry Holder after the game. Here’s what he had to say about the final play of the Vikings’ upset win in New Orleans.

Holder: What did you see on that final play to uphold the call on the field?

Riveron: We looked at all of the angles that FOX afforded us, and FOX gave us some great views. There is contact by both players, but non of that contact rises to the level of a foul. This is consistent with what we’ve done all year long, we left the ruling on the field. We let it stand.

Holder: It seemed like you guys did this process pretty quickly. It was obviously clear enough in that short of a span that you felt comfortable with what was called?

Riveron: Yes, FOX was great. They gave us every angle that they had pertaining to the play. So, we’re very comfortable with what we saw. Nothing came through afterward that we had not seen prior to making the ruling.

In short, there was handfighting on both sides, but neither Rudolph nor defensive back P.J. Williams escalated that engagement to the point where it would be considered pass interference on either man.

The league’s retired referees didn’t see Rudolph’s game-winner in the same light as their former coworkers. Former official Terry McAulay, who currently works as an analyst on NBC’s NFL broadcasts, said the play should have come back.

John Parry, another former NFL ref who now works for ESPN, agreed.

Former ref and current FOX analyst Dean Blandino didn’t rule on the play either way, but acknowledged the double-edged sword that’s come with making pass interference reviewable.

Since there was no flag on the play, the review had to turn up indisputable evidence of interference. That means replay officials weren’t calling the play like they would have on the fly after Rudolph’s touchdown catch — they were only looking for clear and blatant examples of what the crew calling the game would have missed. The contact between Williams and Rudolph didn’t show the New York crew a smoking gun, so they lacked the power to reverse the decision made on the field.

New Orleans’ players were clearly unhappy with the lack of an announced review on the field. Though Riveron confirmed officials looked at the replay from league headquarters in New York, that wasn’t explicitly expressed to anyone in the Superdome — as these reactions from Saints’ stars seem to confirm.

“I thought all touchdowns were supposed to be reviewed,” linebacker Demario Davis said in his postgame scrum. “I don’t know. It’s above my head. I can’t do anything about it. It was one-on-one, the tight end won, you’ve got to give him credit. Good throw and catch.”

Defensive end Cameron Jordan was less diplomatic in his criticism.

With the talent we have put together on this team, we had — we have full belief in us,” he told reporters. “Even up to the last second, we figured the ref was going to come in and be a ref. It’s a joke.”

The league’s first year of making pass interference reviewable failed to solve many actual problems. Calls and no-calls alike were equally ignored as review officials largely sided with the decisions made on the field.

Sunday’s no-call on Rudolph seemingly continued that trend, giving Saints fan another ax to grind throughout the offseason. New Orleans may have gotten the short end of the stick thanks to a missed pass interference call for the second straight playoff game, but the NFL doesn’t see it that way.