Rams' Andrew Whitworth: Saints Using Missed Pass Interference as an 'Excuse' for Loss

"It's just one of those things that's a slippery slope, and it's an excuse," Andrew Whitworth said.

The NFL has yet to officially comment on the missed pass interference call from late in Sunday's NFC championship, but Rams offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth has no problem talking about it.

In an appearance on FOX Sports's The Rich Eisen Show Tuesday, Whitworth talked about the no-call uproar that has followed since Los Angeles secured a spot in Super Bowl LIII with a 26–23 overtime win in New Orleans.

Whitworth mentioned how when he played for the Bengals, they lost a playoff game to the Pittsburgh Steelers when then-linebackers coach Joey Porter stayed on the field to talk with officials, which led to cornerback Adam Jones getting a personal foul for Cincinnati.

"It's just one of those things that's a slippery slope, and it's an excuse," Whitworth said. "And the reality is they got the football after that snap. They played in overtime with the football. New England had the same situation and won the game."

Whitworth also brushed off the idea of replaying the game from the missed penalty, but noted that there were missed calls for both teams, so it wouldn't make sense to just single out one of them.

"You see the arguments from some of the Saints' players about the rule about the commissioner restarting the game over or from that point or whatever," Whitworth said. "My argument to that would be: then Jared Goff got a facemask on the second down on the possession before that was not called. That'd be first and goal at the 1 (yard line) down three points. If you look at our odds from the 1 (yard line) this season, that's seven points. So, they'd be down four, and a field goal wouldn't matter. They would have had to score in that situation either way."

The 2006 second-round pick added: "I'd be lying if I said my first reaction wasn't: 'I can't believe we're kicking it'", referring to when coach Sean McVay settled for the field goal with the Rams at the goal line to tie the game at 20 instead of trying to take a fourth-quarter lead.

Whitworth, a four-time Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro, is in his 13th season out of LSU and his second year with the Rams after spending the first 11 years of his career with the Bengals.

The Rams will meet the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LIII on Feb. 3.