USA Today Sports/Reuters
NFL officials will now be able to replay and review pass interference this season, a move approved after coaches and fans were left outraged by a missed call in January’s NFC Championship Game, ESPN reports. Pass interference is the first penalty in the history of the league’s replay system to be added to the list of approved reviews, and, also for the first time, coaches will be able to challenge no-calls on this penalty. The replay booth, along with the league’s office in New York, will bring those challenges forward in the final two minutes of each half. The decision was welcomed by the Saints and their coach Sean Payton after officials missed an obvious pass interference penalty in the fourth quarter of New Orleans’ 26-23 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Jan. 20. Payton, who is a member of the competition committee, pushed for a solution that could prevent such mistakes in the future. “There was an owe-it-to-the-game responsibility,” he was quoted as saying after NFL owners approved the measure 31-1.