Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press
By Ben Shpgel | New York Times
LOS ANGELES — Sean Payton coped by quarantining himself for three days. He binged Netflix programming (“Conversations With a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes” and “You”) and scarfed Jeni’s Splendid ice cream. He could excavate his grief, compartmentalizing but not forgetting — really, you can’t forget an injustice like that — because the officiating debacle that most likely denied his New Orleans Saints a Super Bowl berth occurred in their final game of the season.
Yet Payton, the Saints’ head coach, watched another blown call benefit the Los Angeles Rams and infuriate his team again on Sunday, nullifying a go-ahead touchdown in the first half. This time, he and the Saints did not have an off-season to work through their emotions. More than two quarters remained, and the Saints’ star quarterback, Drew Brees, loitered on the sideline, out with a hand injury.
As it did in the teams’ last matchup eight months ago, New Orleans lost to the Rams, and at this stage all the Saints want is a game officiated fairly, without human error contributing to their demise.
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