There is an ironic failure to the NFL's new pass interference review rules

Since the rule has been enacted, it's hardly been enforced, leaving coaches and players confused and officials looking foolish week after week.
With 11 weeks of evidence as to how the rule is being interpreted, it's now not even clear whether it would have overturned the call that brought it into existence.
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories .

In the 2018 NFC Championship, the Los Angeles Rams outlasted the New Orleans Saints to reach Super Bowl LIII thanks in large part to a blown pass interference call late in the game .

With just under two minutes left in the fourth quarter and the teams knotted at 20-20, the Saints were driving deep in Rams territory for what looked likely to be the game-winning score.

Faced with third-and-10 at the Los Angeles 13-yard line, Drew Brees threw a short pass to the sidelines to wide receiver Tommylee Lewis, when Rams defensive back Nickell Robey-Coleman came flying in, knocking Lewis off his feet in mid-air.

It was as clear a pass interference penalty as you could find, but no flag was thrown. Had the Saints gotten the call, they could have drained the clock down to its final seconds and kicked what would likely have been a game-winning field goal as time expired. Instead, they had to kick with more than a minute left on the clock, leaving the Rams with time to drive the field, tie the game, and eventually win in overtime.

Heading into the 2019 season, the NFL believed it had found a solution to the problem, making pass interference reviewable by way of a coach's challenge at any point in the game and the official's discretion in the final two minutes of each half.

But more than halfway through the season, the new rule has been a source of frustration rather than fairness , with seemingly apparent pass interference penalties going un-flagged both on the field and upon review.

Week 11 gave football fans yet another clear-cut example of just how oddly the rule is being enforced when Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey seemed to commit an obvious penalty against Texans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins in the end zone.

Houston challenged the no-call on the field, but the initial ruling stood.

"I have no idea what pass interference is anymore," Texans head coach Bill O'Brien said after the game. "No idea."

The referee's decision to refrain from throwing the flag upon reviewing the Texans-Ravens play reveals the great irony of the NFL's new rule: it's now unclear if the no-call that started it all in the NFC Championship would be changed had it been reviewed.

Former NFL referee and current ESPN rules analyst John Parry told Sports Illustrated's Conor Orr that he isn't sure the non-call in the playoffs would have been overturned, adding that the problem with the rule comes down to interpretation. Officials are only supposed to overturn egregious mistakes, but the degree to which a blown call is that bad varies from referee to referee.

"My definition of a train wreck and your definition of a train wreck are different," Parry said.

What we're left with is a system that comes across as even more broken than before. At least in the NFC Championship, the officials could stand behind the excuse that there was nothing they could do the wrong team still might be going to the Super Bowl, but that outcome was reached through the rules as they were set to be interpreted.

Today, we instead have a set of rules intended to solve what looks on its face like an exceedingly solvable problem, but in reality, it only provides coaches with a new way to waste challenges and timeouts.

Should history repeat itself and we get another controversial non-call at a critical point in the NFC Championship this year, the officials working the game will have the tools at their disposal necessary to make the correct ruling.

Whether or not they use them is an entirely different question.

NFL POWER RANKINGS: Where every team stands heading into Week 12

Tom Brady's trainer and business partner Alex Guerrero says the Patriots quarterback believes he could play until he's 46 or 47

Top 13 waiver-wire pickups for Week 12 of fantasy football

The NFL's botched workout for Colin Kaepernick was unlike anything the league had ever put together, and blame for the debacle is flying in all directions

NOW WATCH: 5 things about the NFL that football fans may not know