The referees may have severely impacted the NFC Championship Game on Sunday, but if you ask Marcus Peters, so did Sean Payton.
The Los Angeles Rams cornerback blamed Payton for his playcalling that cost the New Orleans Saints late in the game. Specifically, he pointed to Payton calling a pass play on first-and-10 at the Rams 13 with under two minutes left as a costly decision.
Marcus Peters on Sean Payton's decision-making at the end of regulation:
“Just me knowing football, if their coach run the ball on first or second down they probably ain’t even gonna be sitting here talking about this.”
— Brody Miller (@BrodyAMiller) January 21, 2019
The Saints threw an incompletion on the play, which stopped the clock and allowed the Rams to save one of their two remaining timeouts. The Saints ran on second but threw again on third down, which is when the blown call by the officials took place.
Though Peters and others say that was a bad call by Payton to throw a pass, I disagree. Run or pass, the Rams still would have had enough time left for a final drive. I’d much rather try for a touchdown rather than play for a field goal, because a TD would have probably put the game out of reach. The Saints were playing aggressively.
This is sweet revenge for Peters, who had an ongoing beef with Payton and even taunted him after the game.
