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NFL team owners have voted to approve a change to the NFL rule book that allows for teams to challenge potential pass interference calls on Tuesday, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The vote was held at the league’s annual meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, which is taking place this week.
It doesn’t change the NFC Championshp game, but changes have been made: All offensive and defensive pass interference calls, as well as non-calls, now be challenged, per league source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 26, 2019
The rule change will allow teams to challenge both called and uncalled pass interference penalties where they believed a referee made an error, per Schefter. Teams will still have two challenges each.
Teams will be able to challenge both offensive and defensive pass interference penalties.
The rule change came in wake of a controversial non-call towards the end of regulation during the 2019 NFC Championship game. Los Angeles Rams nickel Nickell Robey-Coleman appeared to have tackled then New Orleans Saints wide receiver Tommylee Lewis before the ball reached the receiver, which should have resulted in a defensive pass interference penalty. Had a flag been thrown on the play, New Orleans would have earned an automatic first down and had a chance to run the clock down before either kicking a go ahead field goal, or scoring a touchdown to have a larger lead as time winded down.
New Orleans ended up kicking a field goal on the ensuing play after the alleged missed call. The Saints would later lose the game in overtime.
New Orleans is reportedly the team that proposed the rule change.