Sean Payton opens up about why he left the Saints (merged)

SoggyBottomBoy said

I'm going to have to disagree with you on this one, friend. That is is not behind the ball. Brees was in the pocket way to the right. There should have been flags showering the field on that play, including from Vinovich.

And, as mentioned, he tried to say he didn't see the play.

As for the timid ref that didn't pull the flag, my take is that Cavaletto wasn't telling him not to throw the flag but he actions were directed at coach Payton who was flying up the sideline towards them. After all that confusion settled, none would awkwardly throw a flag that late. And just like that, our 99% ticket to the Superbowl was put in jeopardy. Perfect storm of incompetence, misunderstanding and confusion.

Click to expand...

I still say that Vinovich's angle was not enough to override Cavaletto who was expressing absolute confidence in his own judgment. Vinovich had a 34 degree angle from the point to point flight of the ball. (yes, I mapped his position from several different camera angles.) That would not have been enough to definitively say how far the ball was from the receiver at the moment of the collision. Cavaletto had only a 3 degree angle, which gave him no possibility of accurately determining the ball position at the moment of contact. It was a pure guess on his part. And it was a decision that was likely made due to the concern of making a game-changing decision at such a critical point in the game. Officials generally do not want their erroneous calls to determine the game. Ironically, that is exactly what Cavaletto allowed to happen.