The Denver Broncos probably got away with one on Sunday night.
That has been the general consensus throughout the week following the team's come-from-behind win over the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday Night Football. Rams defensive back Josh Wallace was flagged for pass interference against Pat Bryant on a key third down on the Broncos' game-winning drive.
Few outside of Broncos Country agreed with the call, Rams coach Sean Payton said the NFL told him the penalty should not have been called. That said, the Broncos owe no one an apology. The Rams didn't lose that game because of that call, but rather because they allowed the Broncos to come back from a 16-0 deficit following a terrible first half.
However, it has brought to the forefront the idea of
pass interference being a reviewable play in the future.
Should pass interference be reviewable?
The league allowed pass interference to be reviewable in 2019, coincidentally following the horrendous non-call that went against Broncos head coach Sean Payton, then head coach of the New Orleans Saints, in the 2018 NFC Championship game. In that game, the Rams and their coach, McVay, were on the right side of a bad call.
The experiment lasted just that season and not many have clamored for its return. That could change soon, however. The Athletic took a great look at this idea earlier in the week.
After being on the right side of the call this time, Payton discussed the idea of pass interference being made reviewable again.
“I don’t know," Payton said when asked if the NFL will make it a reviewable penalty in 2027. "I’ve been on that [competition] committee so long. I was part of it way back when they discussed it. I forget the year they changed it. I said this the other day: the older you get in this and the wiser you get in this, you end up just not focusing on those things that you know that are out of your control. You just hope that when your career’s over with, you’re on the better end of some of those than the not-so-better end. So I think having watched them go through it, my guess would be not any time soon, but that’s just me from experience.”
Payton has a unique perspective on topics such as this one, as he is currently a member of the league's competition committee.
It remains to be seen what the future holds, but regardless of whether it is made reviewable again or not, pass interference will likely remain one of the league's most difficult and controversial penalties to both assess and understand.
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This article originally appeared on Broncos Wire: Will the NFL make pass interference reviewable again? Sean Payton weighs in
