Sean Payton made all kinds of news during and after his team's Thursday night loss to the Atlanta Falcons. Perhaps the most noteworthy event came when he seemingly gave a "choke" signal to his opponent (despite denying it after the game) but, on Friday, Payton added even another layer to the festivities in blasting the officiating.
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New Orleans Advocate (h/t NBC's ProFootballTalk) had this quote about the officiating being "extremely poor" in the contest.
"I thought our guys fought hard. Obviously, looking back through it, I thought the officiating was extremely poor, inconsistent would be a good way to put it, and I thought that had a lot to do with the way this game ended. ... That's what's frustrating is good teams are out there fighting hard, but the calls, as I went through them, and the ones that weren't called, too many inconsistencies. I think it's been a problem all year, it's something that's going to have to be addressed from a leadership standpoint at the top in our league office."
There were a few high-profile calls, including a procedural penalty on the Saints at the end of the first half that nullified a field goal and a personal foul on Payton that effectively ended the game in the fourth quarter. Of course, coaches are never thrilled with the officiating in the aftermath of a bitter loss but, in the same breath, this was not immediately following the game, but rather with several hours to cool off before addressing the media again.
