This past Sunday’s NFC Championship Game certainly drew the ire of New Orleans Saints fans. A non-call on one play is believed to have cost the home team the game and a trip to the Super Bowl. One gamer recreated the controversial play in a new Madden 19 gameplay video to see how the referees would respond in the virtual football world.
Madden 19 gameplay video shows controversial play
In this past Sunday’s game, New Orleans was within scoring territory with under two minutes to play. Saints quarterback Drew Brees threw a pass towards Tommylee Lewis right near the endzone. Lewis never had much chance to make a play on the ball, though. That’s because defender Nickell Robey-Smith crashed into him helmet-to-helmet. Despite all that contact, the referees didn’t throw a flag on the blatant hit.
Two Saints fans sue the NFL over the missed pass interference call that cost New Orleans a Super Bowl berth https://t.co/W4yyPRMN39
— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) January 22, 2019
The Saints kicked a field goal to go up 23-20 late. However, the Rams came back to tie it with a FG of their own before regulation ended. Ultimately, they kicked another one in OT to win the game. It had Saints fans extremely upset over the non-call and has even resulted in petitions or a lawsuit to try to have the final part of the game played over again.
That’s where Madden 19 gameplay comes in. While our Madden playoffs simulation this past weekend showed a rout by the Rams, another gamer was able to simulate the controversial pass interference play. Former NFL star and Heisman winner Reggie Bush posted the clip on his Twitter feed.
Madden Refs better than real life 🤷🏾♂️ pic.twitter.com/MX6Y0F5xNe
— Reggie Bush (@ReggieBush) January 22, 2019
The teams are the same, as is the play. However, as seen in the video above, the Madden 19 gameplay is during the third quarter of a game. In addition, New Orleans holds a 7-3 lead at the time. However, the results of the play are that the referees throw the flag for the Rams’ pass interference. The fact a video game’s intelligence gets the call right may mean referees will be in search of new jobs in the future.
Despite all of the controversy, the video game won’t determine who heads to the Super Bowl. That said, EA’s Madden 19 NFL playoffs simulation results ahead of the two Championship Games were on point with the actual outcomes. The Rams and Patriots were winners per Madden’s tweet, each by three-point margins.
The Madden 19 game is currently available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows PCs.