While fielding questions from reporters after his team’s loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the 2018 NFC championship game, New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton acknowledged that he received a call from the league office in New York. The call concerned a play in which Saints wide receiver Tommylee Lewis was hit by Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman well before Drew Brees’ pass arrived. Robey-Coleman even admitted to Robert Klemko of Sports Illustrated that he should have been penalized for the error.

Payton relayed the message from the NFL’s head of officiating: “It was simple. They blew the call; it should never have not been a call. Not only was it interference it was helmet-to-helmet,” Payton said. “Two calls — they couldn’t believe it. We spoke initially, then I called to follow up, and the first thing (senior vice president of officiating Al Riveron) said when he answered the call was, ‘We messed it up’.”

It’s a terrible conversation to have as someone in Payton’s position. It’s not bad enough that the officials missed one penalty on a game-changing play; they actually botched two separate fouls on the same player. Had either call been made, the game would effectively have been over and the Saints would be playing in Super Bowl LIII.

But Payton wasn’t finished: “But when we go to these league meetings, and we sit as an ownership group, and we don’t further evaluate the replay system, you know there’s too much at stake. And it’s, listen, it’s a hard job for those guys because it’s happening fast. But I don’t know if there was ever a more obvious pass interference call and here it is in the NFC championship game. It’s a hard one to swallow.”

Payton sits on the NFL Competition Committee, a joint collaboration between coaches and owners. He’ll surely use his authority there to introduce changes to the penalty process, doing his part to make sure no team ends its season like this ever again. Even if it’s something as simple as making penalties reviewable.