In the immediate aftermath of the NFC Championship game, the NFL privately apologized to the Saints -- and intended to publicly acknowledge the blown no-call of pass interference that robbed the Saints of a first and goal with roughly 1:49 to play. Three days later, it hasn’t happened.
And, by all appearances, it’s not going to happen. At least not this week.
Private contrition has yet to become a public confession, with the league content to implicitly concede error by discussing whether changes to the replay system can or will be made in order to avoid future similar outcomes. Per a league source, the evolution of the league’s position has gone from a willingness to admit error to a more nuanced effort (presumably to avoid suggesting that the Rams are an illegitimate Super Bowl participants) to disclose that the officials missed not only the pass interference penalty but also the facemask foul committed against Rams quarterback Jared Goff, in an effort to create the not-so-subtle impression that two wrongs made a right.
That strategy disappeared as quickly as it emerged, with the league opting instead to focus not on the mistakes but on the potential solutions, even if the league would then pivot to explaining why the potential solutions won’t work.
The league’s effort to avoid admitting effort may not work indefinitely. Although Falcons CEO Rich McKay, chairman of the Competition Committee, apparently didn’t face during a recent mini-media tour a direct, yes-or-no question as to whether the call was blown, the Commissioner will meet the media next week, and hopefully someone in attendance will ask in a narrow, specific, closed-ended way whether he will admit that a flag should have been thrown for pass interference. Then, hopefully, someone in attendance will ask in a broad, general, open-ended way what the league will do to keep this from happening to another team in the future.
For now, the same kind of siege mentality that emerged in the aftermath of the Ray Rice case has taken root in the league office, with efforts to deflect and evade and hope that the fire will burn out before it does any real damage. Maybe it will work. Maybe it won’t. By the end of next week, an answer will be obvious.