Last night, in the final minutes of regulation play in the NFC championship game between the New Orleans Saints and The Los Angeles Rams, the score was tied at 20.
The Saints had the ball and were quickly driving down the field. On third down, with less than two minutes to go, veteran quarterback, Drew Brees, hiked the ball. He looked straight ahead and then scanned to the right. He saw an open receiver; TommyLee Lewis. He threw the ball. If completed, this could be a first down, allowing them another set of downs to score a touchdown, or another four downs to take time off the clock and kick a field goal. Either way, resulting in an almost guaranteed win.
What happened next, no one could have predicted.
Out of nowhere, Corner for the Rams, Nickell Robey-Coleman, plows Lewis before he has a chance to make a play on the ball. This is clearly a pass interference penalty as defined by the NFL rulebook, which states: “[It is pass interference if there is] contact by a player who is not playing the ball that restricts the opponent’s opportunity to make the catch.”
A pass interference call would not only put the Saints closer to the goal, but it would give them an automatic first down. This, nearly guaranteeing the aforementioned win.
But there is no call for pass interference.
Coach, Sean Payton, for the Saints is irate at the officials and yelling for them to make the call. But the no-call was made. It cannot be changed. The rules are set. You can’t challenge a pass-interference call. There was nothing they could do.
It was fourth down. A bitter Saints team kicks a field goal to put them up by 3, but they now kick the ball to the Rams with over a minute and a half to go. More than enough time to get downfield and kick a field goal to tie the game.
They do, and go on to beat the Saints in overtime.
What was almost a guaranteed win for the Saints, turned into an unlikely win for the Rams.
History was made, and people will be talking about that moment for years to come.
But what I couldn’t help but think of was how much the future can be affected by a single decision. Just by this one decision, the officials changed the moods of millions across the country. They perhaps changed the outcomes of several football players careers. They caused a completely different game to be played for the Superbowl. So many things were changed because of this one decision.
This seems like a massive scale ordeal, being the NFL and all, we might think that this is an extreme example. But even the decisions that we make change the world. At least, the world as it is to us. The way that we see the world is constantly being changed by single decisions we make. Turning right, turning left, sleeping, staying up, working, being at home, being with friends, being by yourself.
Every decision has consequences. Some good, some bad. But if we can realize the scale of each decision, we become more intentional people. If I want every decision I make to go towards a specific outcome, I will be much more fastidious in the decisions that I make.
Every decision counts. Are your numbers increasing or are they decreasing?