The last play of Sunday’s Vikings-Saints game resulted in a touchdown, along with a real question as to whether Minnesota tight end Kyle Rudolph pushed off before making the catch.
After overtime ended, NFL senior V.P. of officiating Al Riveron answered questions from Larry Holder of TheAthletic.com regarding the decision to not overturn the ruling on the field of no offensive pass interference.
“We looked at all of the angles that FOX afforded us, and FOX gave us some great views,” Riveron said. “There is contact by both players, but none of that contact rises to the level of a foul. This is consistent with what we’ve done all year long, we left the ruling on the field. We let it stand.”
Consistency throughout the season is debatable, because the standard has at times seemed inconsistent. Regardless, Rudolph pushed the chest of safety P.J. Williams with one hand, hard enough that Williams’ head was driven backward. Riveron was adamant that there was no foul.
“[W]e’re very comfortable with what we saw,” Riveron told Holder. “Nothing came through afterward that we had not seen prior to making the ruling.”
Former NFL official Terry McAulay, who now works for NBC, believes that offensive pass interference should have been called on the field, and that the ruling on no pass interference the field should have been overturned.