NEW ORLEANS — The man who unwittingly became the focus of the NFL’s latest officiating debacle stood in the middle of a crowded but jubilant locker room at the NFC Championship Game and owned up to everything.

Yes, Nickell Robey-Coleman admitted, the L.A. Rams were caught flat-footed on a play they didn’t see coming, and yes, he was surprised the flag never came after he rammed into receiver Tommylee Lewis to prevent the touchdown that would have probably sent the New Orleans Saints to the Super Bowl.

“You look at the football gods like, thank you, got away with one tonight,” Robey-Coleman said. “It is what it is.”

But if you think the Rams don’t deserve to be in the Super Bowl, if you watched what happened here Sunday and want to focus on an officiating error and an unlucky break, you’re missing the big picture.

Despite all the talk that will reverberate through the offseason about a controversial non-call in Los Angeles 26, New Orleans 23, the question remains: How did the Saints manage to lose this game?

Until Greg Zuerlein’s 57-yard field goal went through the uprights early in the overtime period, it never once felt like this was the Rams’ game to win. Not when the radio in quarterback Jared Goff’s helmet was malfunctioning, not when his team fell behind 13-0 and needed a fake punt just to generate a single a first down, and certainly not when Drew Brees had a fourth-quarter lead and three opportunities to land the knockout punch.

How many advantages did the Saints expect? How many would they have needed to beat a team that outgained them 378-290 and took a full quarter to get used to the crowd noise generated in the Superdome that was causing significant communication issues for the Rams offense.

“So look, we ain’t going to complain about no pass interference because bad calls get made every day in this game,” Rams cornerback Marcus Peters said. “Just me knowing football, if coach (Sean Payton) runs the ball on first and second down, we’re probably not even talking about this. You give Sean McVay the ball back with 1:43 or something, we’re going to score or kick a field goal. We got it done.”

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The Saints may have a legit gripe about the call, but they would be hard-pressed to call themselves the better team Sunday. Given an early opportunity to land a knock-out punch, they instead settled for field goals. Then, over the final three quarters, they put together exactly one touchdown drive, taking the pressure off a young quarterback in Jared Goff who really only made one spectacular throw — a deep out to Brandin Cooks that set up a touchdown at the end of the first half to cut the deficit to 13-10.

“It was disorientingly loud, but we fought through it, Goff said. “When our defense is playing so well, I know I don’t have to make it all up at once. We had some time to get ourselves together.”

Meanwhile, the Rams adjusted. They won despite a no-show by star running back Todd Gurley, who muffed a pass on their second drive of the game that turned into an interception, dropped another one on a key third down and essentially got benched, rushing just four times for 10 yards. They won despite converting just 6-of-16 third downs on the road. They won despite a mountain of evidence pointing toward the Saints, right up until Zuerlein had to make a 48-yarder just to take the game to overtime.

“You felt us start to take control of the game (near halftime), but we never really wrested it away maybe the way you’d want,” Rams executive vice president of football operations Kevin Demoff said. “But it's been that way. This team had a ton of games this year that came down to the fourth quarter. Last year we had a ton of games where we blew people out and maybe weren’t battle tested.”

That’s the biggest difference between this Rams team, which is now on the verge of a championship, and the one that flamed out at home last year in the wild-card round against the Atlanta Falcons.

The Rams are always capable of lighting up the scoreboard at a moment’s notice. But clearly this one has found plenty of ways to win and needed just one lucky break to silence the Superdome.

“When you catch breaks in this league you have to take advantage,” Robey-Coleman said. “This league is too hard for you to catch a break and not take advantage of it. The door opens and closes just that quick. It feels so good to be on the right side of it.”

Follow Dan Wolken on Twitter @DanWolken.