Morelli was the referee of the NFC Championship Game between the Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints on January 24, 2010. Saints' Bobby McCray made a low blindside hit on Vikings quarterback Brett Favre that appeared to have violated the "Tom Brady Rule" in which defenders can't hit quarterbacks below the knees. Pereira later agreed that it was a missed call and a penalty flag should have been thrown. This, along with two other hits on Favre that did draw penalty flags from Morelli's crew, later became one of the many examples cited in the New Orleans Saints bounty scandal, in which the Saints were accused of operating a slush fund that paid out bonuses for in-game performance in violation of NFL rules.