Sheesh. It's no secret that the New Orleans Saints have had a frosty relationship with NFL officiating back to the 2019 NFC Championship Game No-Call, which led to widespread criticism of the league's refereeing crews and management process. A one-year attempt at holding officials responsible by making pass interference calls a challengeable play with instant replay, which former Saints coach Sean Payton and team owner Gayle Benson spearheaded, went nowhere. But seeing is believing.
And this chart goes a long way to explain why Saints fans have become so antagonistic with NFL referees. StickToTheModel.com shared nine years of data to illustrate which teams have seen the most close calls go against them in "one-score fourth quarters and overtime"
as well as teams that have benefited from those close calls, and the teams that have seen flags go both ways and those whose games have had referees keep the flags in their pockets. Naturally, the Saints are outliers among outliers.
Every fanbase swears the refs screw them
— Stick to the Model (@StickToTheModel) October 1, 2026
Here's every flag in crunch time since 2018
Are you getting robbed or getting bailed out? pic.twitter.com/5k0MMCH0YP
By assessing the beneficiaries and victims of "judgment flags" including holding, pass interference, roughing the passer, face masks, among others, this analysis found that the Saints were dealt a bad hand more often than any other team, with the fewest penalties called on opponents per 100 snaps in the fourth quarter and overtime. At the same time, just one team (the San Francisco 49ers) was penalized more often in these situations than New Orleans. If it's felt like the Saints have been held to a different standard than most of the league's other teams, the data backs that up. It's notable that all three of their NFC South rivals, who the Saints play more often than any other team, sit in the quadrant that benefits most from close calls going their way.
A lot of it goes back to that controversy at the end of the 2018 postseason. Bill Vinovich, the head referee in that infamous conference title game, still hasn't returned for an assignment in New Orleans. Payton publicly criticized the practice of "all star" crews of officials who didn't work together in the regular season, leading to miscommunication and a deference to seniority in critical moments (like the NFC No-Call). Discourse goes on to this day about the NFL pinching pennies by hiring part-timers to officiate games rather than employ them full time to study up on their craft. Alan Eck, their Week 1 referee, is a retired corporate tax manager. Their Week 2 referee Clete Blakeman works as a personal injury attorney and Week 3's referee Adrian Hill has a day job as a software engineer. Enforcing the rules and knowing what to look for isn't the main focus for many of them, and that's been the case for years. It's a frustrating situation that is far from over.
This article originally appeared on Saints Wire: Saints are outliers among outliers in NFL fourth-quarter penalties
