Oh boy, this will definitely rile up the conspiracy theorists.
The NFC Championship Game was a great game between two great teams as the New Orleans Saints and Los Angeles squared off in an epic encounter.
Unfortunately, the game was overshadowed by an egregious non-call that would’ve resulted in the Saints being able to run out the clock and kick a potential game-winning field goal in the final seconds.
Instead, there was enough time for Jared Goff and the Rams to drive down the field and tie the game, sending the game to overtime where the Rams were able win it and advance to Super Bowl LIII.
Following the game, all everyone was talking about was the missed pass interference call and Ramon Antonio Vargas, a writer for The New Orleans Advocate pointed out that one official of the NFC Championship Game officiating crew had ties to the Los Angeles-area:
Gary Cavaletto, the ref who swallowed his flag on the infamous no-call benefiting the Rams, lives within 2 hours of L.A.. His crewmate Phil McKinnely went to UCLA and played for the L.A. Rams and Atlanta.
A question: could the NFL do more to avoid these optics at this stage?
— Ramon Antonio Vargas (@RVargasAdvocate) January 21, 2019
A crucial part of this is not correct. McKinnely was not involved in this game. A couple of the guys on the crew live relatively near L.A., including the other one I named and the back judge. But I mean a lot of people don’t think that has any bearing, and I can see why. https://t.co/2MuHRuxLGu
— Ramon Antonio Vargas (@RVargasAdvocate) January 21, 2019
The NFL has to do a better job of making sure these type of bad optics can be avoided as the offseason will once again be all about the officiating.
