Rams Ex Jared Goff Not Apologizing For NFC Championship No-Call: 'They Had A Chance!'
When the Los Angeles Rams met the New Orleans Saints in the 2018 NFC Championship Game, neither team expected it to become one of the most infamous games in recent history.
The game started out normal enough, with New Orleans taking a 13-0 lead in the first quarter before L.A. closed the gap. Then in the fourth quarter, with the Saints threatening to take the lead, quarterback Drew Brees floated a third-down pass to receiver Tommylee Lewis that was broken up by Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman. Despite Robey-Coleman's hit coming before the ball arrived, officials did not call a penalty on the play, much to the chagrin of Saints fans.
The Saints settled for a field goal on the drive, but the Rams drove down the field to tied the game and eventually win in overtime to make the Super Bowl. This no-call drew ire from fans of the Saints and the NFL as a whole. Some Saints fans even attempted to sue the league over the no-call, demanding the game be re-played.
To this day, that pass interference no-call lives on in infamy. However, former Rams quarterback Jared Goff isn't going to apologize for getting an apparent lucky break all those years ago.
“No. God no. No. They got the ball in overtime. They had a chance to win it...I’ve had a million pass interferences that weren’t called...They had that happen and then they ended up throwing the ball again," Goff said on Barstool's Pardon My Take. "They could have ran it and ran off more clock, but threw an incompletion. Then, you know, we got lucky and they turned it over to us in overtime and we made a field goal from 60 yards. It wasn’t like it was perfect for us either.”
Goff is correct that the Saints had chances to win, even after the no-call. New Orleans got the ball to start overtime, but Brees threw a tipped interception to Rams safety John Johnson. Former Rams kicker Greg Zuerlein hit the game-winning field goal from 57 yards out, which was far from an easy feat.
Goff is now entering his third season away from the Rams after he was traded along with draft picks to the Detroit Lions for quarterback Matthew Stafford. With statements like this, though, he still holds a special place in the hearts of L.A. fans.
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