NFL rule says commish could overturn Rams/Saints ...
Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 10:29 am
... or make them play the game over, or from the p0int where the "egregious act" occurred
odds are it will not happen, but there is an actual NFL Rule that would allow it :
Wild NFL rule allows Roger Goodell to reverse Rams-Saints outcome, but would he actually use it?
let that be the do-over point
but, it won't happen
odds are it will not happen, but there is an actual NFL Rule that would allow it :
Wild NFL rule allows Roger Goodell to reverse Rams-Saints outcome, but would he actually use it?
I think it would be fair to restart the game at the point of where the penalty should have been calledAfter all the insanity of Championship Sunday wrapped, it was almost hard to comprehend all the crazy things that happened throughout the day. One thing stood above all else though: the Rams pass interference penalty against the Saints that went uncalled by the referees and ultimately allowed the Rams to advance to their first Super Bowl since 2001.
Lingering with that game and the outcome is the NFL's lack of a statement about the lack of a penalty. And lingering over that is a pretty insane and broad rule in the NFL rulebook that would allow NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, should he so choose, to reverse or reschedule the outcome of the game between the Saints and Rams.
No, really. Goodell could either tell the Rams "sorry" and send the Saints to the Super Bowl or he could make them play the NFC Championship Game again. Either situation falls deep in the realm of the unlikely, but Rule 17, Section 2, Article 1, as noted by Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio, does exist.
And it reads like this:
"The Commissioner has the sole authority to investigate and take appropriate disciplinary and/or corrective measures if any club action, non-participant interference, or calamity occurs in an NFL game which the Commissioner deems so extraordinarily unfair or outside the accepted tactics encountered in professional football that such action has a major effect on the result of the game."
Would Nickell Robey-Coleman admitting he was trying to tackle Tommy Lee Lewis because he was beat for the touchdown qualify under "extraordinarily unfair"? That's probably a stretch, but you can certainly make the case for the Saints winning if the flag was thrown. They would have taken knees or run straight up the middle until there was minimal time on the clock, called timeout and let Wil Lutz kick a field goal to win. Lutz made a longer field goal on the next play anyway.
If the NFL decided it did qualify, Goodell, the rulebook continues, could change history:
"The Commissioner's powers under this Section 2 include . . . the reversal of a game's result or the rescheduling of a game, either from the beginning or from the point at which the extraordinary act occurred."
let that be the do-over point
but, it won't happen