Payton says NFL admitted refs missed blatant PI on Rams: 'They just blew it'

New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton lamented the non-call on a blatant pass interference that should've gone against the Los Angeles Rams late in the NFC championship immediately after the game.

"Just getting off the phone with the league office," he told reporters after his team's 26-23 overtime loss, according to Josh Katzenstein of The Times-Picayune. "They blew the call."

Payton added that the Saints will "probably never get over" the heartbreaking loss.

"I don’t know if there was ever a more obvious pass interference call," he said, via Eric Edholm of Pro Football Weekly.

The missed call came late in the fourth quarter when the Saints were threatening to score a touchdown. Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman ran into Saints receiver Tommylee Lewis on a third-down pass before the ball arrived.

New Orleans was then forced to settle for a go-ahead field goal on fourth down instead. The Rams tied the game in the final minute of the quarter, though, and won it in overtime on a 57-yard field goal.

"Yes, I got there too early," Robey-Coleman said postgame, according to Robert Klemko of Sports Illustrated. "I was beat, and I was trying to save the touchdown."

The Saints suffered an equally excruciating defeat in the postseason last year, winding up on the wrong end of the Minneapolis Miracle in the divisional round.