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Patriots had 61-yard TD taken away by a horrible penalty call

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports
By Steve DelVecchio | Last updated Oct 12, 2025 2:33 PM ET

The New England Patriots had a long touchdown taken off the board following a highly controversial call during their Week 6 game against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.

Patriots quarterback Drake Maye threw a 61-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver DeMario Douglas to give New England what should have been a 13-6 lead late in the first quarter at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, La. A late flag was thrown, however, and the Patriots were called for offensive pass interference. The touchdown came off the board and New England was backed up 10 yards instead.

The flag came so late that the Patriots’ offense had already celebrated and left the field. There was then some confusion while the officiating crew was announcing the call, which went against Stefon Diggs.

Diggs was nowhere near where the area where Douglas caught the ball. Diggs and defensive back Kool-Aid McKinstry got slightly tangled up on the play, but there was nothing that should have amounted to a penalty.

THIS was called OPI on Diggs and it erased a Pop Douglas 61 yard TD… Terrible call! pic.twitter.com/knCmvqrFrH
— Video from: @ThrowbackPATS (@ThrowbackPATS) October 12, 2025

It was almost like an official threw the flag, didn’t know why and then chose a random player to penalize. CBS play-by-play announcer Spero Dedes and color analyst Adam Archuleta tried to make sense of the call, but it didn’t seem like Diggs or any other Patriots player committed pass interference.

The Patriots had 3rd-and-12 following the penalty on Diggs. New Orleans was called for defensive pass interference on the very next play, which many felt was a make-up call. The Saints were then called for defensive holding two plays after that. New England wound up scoring a touchdown on the drive.

The entire sequence was embarrassing for the officiating crew. The NFL will undoubtedly take a close look at the offensive pass interference call and try to figure out what happened.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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