Rams Fall to 1-2 as Disputed Pass Interference Call Hands Broncos the Win, McVay Declines to Blame Refs

The Los Angeles Rams led the Denver Broncos 16-0 at halftime on Sunday Night Football. They lost anyway, 30-26, and dropped to 1-2 on the season.

The collapse came down to one flag. With 1:03 left and Denver facing third-and-6 from the Rams' 11-yard line, quarterback Bo Nix threw toward receiver Pat Bryant. Rams cornerback Josh Wallace fought through contact and came down with what looked like a game-clinching interception at the Rams' seven-yard line.

Officials called defensive pass interference on Wallace instead. Denver got a first-and-goal. Five plays later Nix scored the go-ahead touchdown with 47 seconds on the clock, according to ESPN's Sarah Barshop.

McVay Won't Blame the Flag

McVay addressed the call directly during his Monday video conference with reporters.

"I'm not going to play the victim card," McVay said. "Doesn't really matter. It is what it is. That was the call that was made, and there was a lot of opportunities that we had to be able to close the door on that game. I wouldn't have any additional coaching points for how Josh plays through the cycle of the snap. But I'm not going to make excuses either and we're not going to play the victim card."

Rams cornerback Trent McDuffie said he rewatched the play "over and over" and came away thinking his teammate made a clean play. "Whatever the refs saw they saw and threw the flag and ain't much we can do about it," McDuffie said, according to the LA Times. "So it's really just on to the next week."

A Former Referee Disagreed

NBC rules analyst Terry McAulay, a former NFL referee, reviewed the play on the broadcast and said he didn't see interference. "As we get toward the end, we actually see the receiver grab the defender and pull in on him," McAulay said, per USA Today. "I don't see the defender do anything that significantly hinders the receiver on this play." Asked by Cris Collinsworth whether he would have ruled it an interception, McAulay said yes, "if the knee gets down" or "if two feet are down."

USA Today also noted a wrinkle: Denver still had all three of its timeouts remaining, so the Broncos could likely have forced a punt and gotten the ball back even without the flag, though the clock would have worked against them in that scenario.

The penalty wasn't an isolated incident. Referee Bill Vinovich's crew called the Rams for five penalties in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter alone, tied for the most by any team in a single game since 2000, according to ESPN Research. That crew had thrown the second-fewest flags in the final two minutes of a game across the 2024 and 2025 seasons combined, and had thrown only one flag in the final two minutes of any game in all of 2024.

Vinovich was also the referee for the 2018 NFC Championship Game, when his crew failed to call defensive pass interference on the Rams' Nickell Robey-Coleman against the New Orleans Saints, coached at the time by Sean Payton. That non-call helped send McVay's Rams to the Super Bowl and later pushed the NFL to make pass interference reviewable for one season in 2019. Payton now coaches the Broncos, so the same referee and two of the same coaches were on opposite ends of a controversial pass interference sequence seven years later.

The Rest of the Damage

Denver's rally was fueled by two interceptions from safety Talanoa Hufanga, including a 66-yard pick-six off Matthew Stafford that gave the Broncos their first lead of the game. Stafford answered with a 48-yard touchdown throw to Konata Mumpfield, but Hufanga sealed the win with a second interception on the Rams' final possession.

McVay also apologized Monday for cutting his postgame press conference short. The session ran roughly 90 seconds before he left the podium, a sharp contrast to the five-plus minutes he spent with reporters after beating the New York Giants in Week 2. McVay called it a timing mix-up, not a deliberate snub.

The injury list is now a bigger problem than the officiating. Cornerback Jaylen Watson dislocated his shoulder and will likely miss Week 4 against the Philadelphia Eagles, though McVay said he won't go on injured reserve. Tight end Terrance Ferguson, who caught a touchdown and drew a career-high nine targets the previous week, sprained his ankle and is expected to sit out as well. Tight end Colby Parkinson sprained his AC joint and his status is still being evaluated.

There's one bright spot: receiver Puka Nacua, out the last two games with a groin injury, went through a full pregame workout Sunday. "I'm hopeful," McVay said of Nacua's chances against the Eagles. "If he is able to progress the way that we hope there's optimism that he'll be able to play this week."

The Rams play the Eagles in Philadelphia on Sunday, needing to stop a two-game skid before it becomes a trend.