The Patriots beat the Saints 25-19 on Sunday, but they may have had a bigger margin of victory if not for a couple of offensive pass interference calls on wide receiver Stefon Diggs.
Diggs’ first penalty wiped out a long touchdown pass to DeMario Douglas and the second took his own 51-yard catch off the board. Replays of both plays failed to show much that would have warranted a flag and there were a number of other calls by referee Adrian Hill’s crew on both teams that were difficult to understand.
Those calls led to a lot of discussion on social media and they came up during Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel’s Monday appearance on WEEI. Vrabel was asked what can be done to improve officiating and he referenced the videos the league sends out each week about officiating points while asking if the actual officials pay any attention to them.
“I got a tough enough job to coach this football team,” Vrabel said. “There’s not much. It becomes comical, at a point. They send these videos out every week, and they do a great job. [Club communications liaison} Walt Anderson does a great job, [NFL officiating head] Ramon George does a great job. And they send these videos out. And, of course, me and Stretch [Patriots vice president of football operations and strategy John Streicher], we hang on to every word. And then I’ll see something in the game, I’m like, ‘Did they even watch the video?’ Like, me and Stretch – we’re pausing it, rewinding it, like, ‘Ah, I love these videos.’ And then I’m like, ‘Hey, did you watch the video last week? Like, they talked about this exact thing.’ Me and Stretch watch them.”
Vrabel’s response might not have been quite as lighthearted had the Patriots lost on Sunday, but the frustration was still clear.
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