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That egregiously blown call, as Payton told reporters here Tuesday morning, is the sole reason the new rule was even considered.

“I don’t think there would be one change in replay had that play not happened,” Payton said. “I don’t think we’d be talking about these proposals. In fact, I know we wouldn’t be.

“It’s not just the Saints game. I think a lot of people are paying attention to (this) vote relative to, Are we comfortable with that happening again to another team?”

The answer, ultimately, was no – thanks to passionate, effective lobbying from Payton and reportedly as well from Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett and Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeff Lurie.

Commissioner Roger Goodell himself all but insisted on it, in a private meeting early Tuesday with owners.

Payton said coaches are cognizant of the game-lengthening concern and had this response:

“We don’t want long delays. Replays by coaches have gone down consistently. Timeouts have gone down. We’re all saving (time). Sometimes we get scared about the bogeyman. ‘Oh, these games are going to be three hours and …’ No they’re not.

“Because if you give me more pivotal calls to challenge, there’s no way I’m not going to get caught without a challenge flag late in the game. I’m going to be much more selective. In the last three years, our challenges have dropped, between the two coaching staffs, to less than three a game. Timeouts, same way.”

Finally, for perspective, and to get a sense of both potential frequency and success rates of coaches’ DPI/OPI challenges, let’s compare look at how it has fared in the CFL.