Saints head coach Sean Payton said the NFL’s head of officials told him the officials “blew the call” by not penalizing the Los Angeles Rams for pass interference late in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s NFC Championship Game.

And Payton said he and the team will “probably never get over it” after the Rams went on to win 26-23 in overtime.

“For a call like that not to be made, man, it’s just hard to swallow. And then to get a phone call …” Payton said, trailing off. He added: “We spoke initially, then I called to follow up. And the first thing [head of officials Alberto Riveron] said when I got on the phone — ‘We messed it up.’

“Listen, it’s a hard job for those guys ’cause it’s happening fast. But I don’t know if there was ever a more obvious pass interference call that — here it is, the NFC Championship Game. So, it’s a tough one to swallow.”

The no-call came with 1:45 remaining on a third-and-10 play from the Rams’ 13-yard line, with the score tied 20-20. 

“It was simple. They blew the call. They said it should never have not been a call,” Payton said of the explanation he received. “They said not only was it interference, it was helmet-to-helmet. They just — they couldn’t believe it.”

Payton later said it was the type of foul you’d call “if we were playing pickup football in the backyard.”

You hate to have your entire season come down to a bad call. 

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