Bill Vinovich calling his first Saints game tonight since the no-call (Merged) (1 Viewer)

[SaintJ]

Vinovich also turned a blind eye to Quinn hitting Brees in the head on the pick in OT that lost us the game.

Notice how there was never a replay of the QB action on such a critical play in a game?

 

[Clintonrebel]

The line judge over-ruled (bullied) the side judge and emphasized it was bang bang. The side judge melted and didn’t throw a flag. The head referee does not have the perspective to make the call. He could have been in on it if you are into conspiracy theories but it was 100% on the line judge. Not only was he wrong, he was belligerent about it. Should never officiate again.

 

[Scott B]

he officiated the Super Bowl the very next year. That wasn’t coincidence

 

[SonOfNOLA]

 

[RJ in Lafayette]

I agree totally with HouseCall. The no-call was horrendous. But Vinovich didn't see what happened. And he is one of the best referees in the game.

And I have little patience for those who maintain the no-call was part of a league conspiracy to send Los Angeles to the Super Bowl. If so, you would think the officials might have made a few bad calls against the Saints in the first 58 minutes of the game.

And for those who don't remember, in an overtime game the Saints were flagged three times for 20 yards whereas the Rams were hit with seven penalties for 64 yards. If the league were rigging the officiating to favor Los Angeles, I would expect more than three penalties against the Saints. That crew was letting them play, which is what often happens in a championship game. For the first 58 minutes, I thought the officiating was superb. With the no-call, two officials decided they did not want to make a call that would decide a championship game, even though the violation was so egregious I saw it sitting in the upper box end zone on the other side of the field.

Their decision was terrible. But it was not the product of a conspiracy that would have warranted action by a federal grand jury and would have been the biggest scandal in the history of American sports that would have sent people to prison and would have decimated the market value of the 32 NFL franchises.

 

[TenTwo]

An away game?

 

[Cajun Chat]

Bill Vinovich will be officiating our game tonight…..

This won't happen in Nola.

 

[BarBar]

Vinovich also turned a blind eye to Quinn hitting Brees in the head on the pick in OT that lost us the game.

Notice how there was never a replay of the QB action on such a critical play in a game?

This. I think this is why so many think the fix was in. Just a few minutes later they had a chance to make it right by calling a very obvious hit to the head of the QB and ALSO chose not to throw the flag. They really did everything they could do keep us from winning. Whether it was a plot or just incredible incompetence I have no idea. But any idiot can see that we got majorly screwed by the refs twice in just a couple of minutes to closeout the game and it cost the team a Superbowl appearance.

 

[RJ in Lafayette]

Regarding no penalty for hitting Brees in the face or head with his overtime interception:

1. Right before that interception, the Rams were flagged for defensive pass interference.

2. I just watched the replay of the interception. On the replay from a rear-view camera, it looks as though Brees was hit in the right shoulder, not the face. However, if a penalty did occur, it was not so blatant that (a) the announcers were talking about it, (b) the Superdome crowd strongly reacted to a penalty not being called, and (c) the Saints were screaming about that call after the game.

3. The officials were letting the teams play. For the day, in a game with an overtime period, only 10 penalties were called--again, only three against the Saints for 20 yards.

 

[SuperSaint]

But y'all notice he's not doing this in NOLA.

If the NFL has any brains at all, they'll never have him referee another game in NO, EVER. It would be a total bloodbath.

 

[J.T.]

I get the argument that Vinovich wasn't the primary villain here, but how often do you see a discussion of the Refs after a play, and a flag comes flying out? It's VERY rare, but Vinovich could have taken a peek at one of the big screens and tossed a flag. I know review wasn't allowed in that situation, but they could have easily had a quick "discussion" with one eye on a big screen. That crew is forever tainted in my view!

 

[ilvdsnts]

I agree totally with HouseCall. The no-call was horrendous. But Vinovich didn't see what happened. And he is one of the best referees in the game.

And I have little patience for those who maintain the no-call was part of a league conspiracy to send Los Angeles to the Super Bowl. If so, you would think the officials might have made a few bad calls against the Saints in the first 58 minutes of the game.

And for those who don't remember, in an overtime game the Saints were flagged three times for 20 yards whereas the Rams were hit with seven penalties for 64 yards. If the league were rigging the officiating to favor Los Angeles, I would expect more than three penalties against the Saints. That crew was letting them play, which is what often happens in a championship game. For the first 58 minutes, I thought the officiating was superb. With the no-call, two officials decided they did not want to make a call that would decide a championship game, even though the violation was so egregious I saw it sitting in the upper box end zone on the other side of the field.

Their decision was terrible. But it was not the product of a conspiracy that would have warranted action by a federal grand jury and would have been the biggest scandal in the history of American sports that would have sent people to prison and would have decimated the market value of the 32 NFL franchises.

The “didn’t want to make a call that would decide the game” is the dumbest excuse ever, because you’re still deciding the game by not making the call but by not making it you’re deciding it or at lest giving the edge to the team that cheated/broke the rule. So you may as well make the call and decide it for the right team.
And its the biggest scandal in the history of American sports anyway.

 

[Bill]

I don’t think Vinovich is a bad guy or a bad referee - in fact, as a ref, he is typically one of the highest graded refs in the league year in and year out. I also don’t think he was told to intentionally screw the Saints.

Where Vinovich failed Saints fans in 2018 was blindly backing a member of his crew who made a huge error (or intentional oversight depending on your viewpoint).

Outside of the context of football, he was actually what you’d want in a crew chief. He trusted his guy made the right call and being that there were no procedures at that time for any off-field oversight, he was thrust into a really tough spot. He got it wrong. I’d imagine he knows that and in some way may even deeply regret it - but at the end of the day - he was working within the limited system available at that time.

Where the league failed the Saints and Saints fans was in the immediate aftermath and trying to sweep the “issue” under the rug in an effort to not “taint” the Super Bowl that year.

They let Bill Vinovich be the “boogey man” and washed their hands of it.

Like typical mob mentality, most fans just jumped on the “Hate Vinovich” bandwagon. But their anger is very misplaced since the fault was actually on Cavaletto. At the time there was no rule in place to review pass interference calls. Vinovich was not in the best position on the field to make the right call. And the official who was in the right position (and tried to flag the violation) was called off by the senior official Cavaletto.

There’s no doubt that communication was an issue with that crew. And it was at least partly due to not being a regular crew that had worked together throughout the season. Instead they were assembled as a crew based on league grading and seniority. No one wanted to challenge another official’s judgment. It was a recipe for disastrous misjudgment that led most Saints fans to hating the head official and the league itself.

No one hates the Saints. One guy simply failed at doing his job and got off scott free by retiring without having his name ostracized for making the worst officiating call in the history of professional sports. But the hatred towards Bill Vinovich is totally unwarranted no matter what all the misinformed fans want to believe.

 

[Bill]

I get the argument that Vinovich wasn't the primary villain here, but how often do you see a discussion of the Refs after a play, and a flag comes flying out? It's VERY rare, but Vinovich could have taken a peek at one of the big screens and tossed a flag. I know review wasn't allowed in that situation, but they could have easily had a quick "discussion" with one eye on a big screen. That crew is forever tainted in my view!

‘Taking a peek’ at the video screens would have been the same as making a judgment by means of a video review. That was not in the rule book at the time of that scenario. For the officials to make any decision about that play by staring up to the screen would have been breaking the rules that were in place at that time. At least give them credit for not bending the rules.

Literally the only thing that Vinovich could have done in a group huddle with the other officials is to ask, ‘Are you sure that it was a bang-bang play and should not be considered pass interference?’

Since a highly graded senior official made the call, it would have been unlikely that anyone would have strongly challenged his decision.

 

[Bill]

I agree totally with HouseCall. The no-call was horrendous. But Vinovich didn't see what happened. And he is one of the best referees in the game.

And I have little patience for those who maintain the no-call was part of a league conspiracy to send Los Angeles to the Super Bowl. If so, you would think the officials might have made a few bad calls against the Saints in the first 58 minutes of the game.

And for those who don't remember, in an overtime game the Saints were flagged three times for 20 yards whereas the Rams were hit with seven penalties for 64 yards. If the league were rigging the officiating to favor Los Angeles, I would expect more than three penalties against the Saints. That crew was letting them play, which is what often happens in a championship game. For the first 58 minutes, I thought the officiating was superb. With the no-call, two officials decided they did not want to make a call that would decide a championship game, even though the violation was so egregious I saw it sitting in the upper box end zone on the other side of the field.

Their decision was terrible. But it was not the product of a conspiracy that would have warranted action by a federal grand jury and would have been the biggest scandal in the history of American sports that would have sent people to prison and would have decimated the market value of the 32 NFL franchises.

How dare you use your brain and choose to think with a clear, reasoning head!!!