The NFL has yet to publicly acknowledge that its officials may have cost the New Orleans Saints a trip to the Super Bowl last weekend, but Los Angeles Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman has been made well aware of how the league felt about one of the most controversial plays in the sport’s history.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that Robey-Coleman has been fined more than $25,000 for his helmet-to-helmet hit on Saints wide receiver Tommylee Lewis.
NFL made an unofficial statement on the hit that Rams' CB Nickell Robey-Coleman delivered on Saints' WR Tommylee Lewis.
NFL fined Robey-Coleman the amount of $26,739 for the helmet-to-helmet that was not flagged during the NFC Championship Game, per source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 25, 2019
In addition to basically taking Lewis out of the play before the ball got there, Robey-Coleman initiated helmet-to-helmet contact. While it was the pass interference non-call that got most of the attention, the officials actually could have called both that and a personal foul on Robey-Coleman.
As you know, either call would have set the Saints up with 1st-and-goal and a chance to bleed the clock out before attempting a game-winning chip shot. New Orleans head coach Sean Payton said after the NFC Championship Game loss that the NFL acknowledged the call was blown, but commissioner Roger Goodell and other league executives have remained silent. One Saints player ripped Goodell on Thursday and urged him to make a statement about the mistake.
