NFL rule change gets thumbs up — for now
WASHINGTON NFL coaches are griping, regularly and sometimes loudly, about how the new system making pass interference reviewable by instant replay is operating early in the 2019 season. Their complaints about inconsistency in the replay rulings on interference add to the cacophony of contentions by other observers that the system isn’t working and might be doomed to being discarded after one season.
The NFL is not jumping to such early season conclusions, however. According to multiple people familiar with the views of league officials, NFL decision-makers believe the new system is working reasonably well thus far, given the limitations of making judgment calls subject to replay scrutiny. League officials think the onus is on coaches, who pushed hard for the change made last off-season, to adjust to the rulings being made from New York by Al Riveron, the NFL’s senior vice-president of officiating.
“I remain concerned,” said one of those people with knowledge of the league’s inner workings, stressing there always were reservations about replay being involved in subjective calls. “But actually, I feel pretty good about where it is. The line for reversal (of an onfield call) is going to be high. If you would move that line, it’s going to be even more confusing.”
Coaches’ complaints aren’t surprising given a judgment call remains a judgment call even when subjected to replay, said that person and others familiar with the NFL’s thinking. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the controversy surrounding the topic.
“Any time you deal in the world of subjectivity, you’re going to have issues,” that person said. “It’s been OK. It doesn’t mean it’s been perfect. I think New York has done about as well as it can with this. There are going to be growing pains with this. That was always going to be the case.”
Another person with knowledge of the NFL’s views expressed similar sentiments, saying, “It’s really about reminding the coaches (that) ‘this is what you asked for.’ ”
Of the rulings being made by Riveron, that person said, “He’s left it in the stadium. For the vast majority, it’s a stay (with the original on-field call). Is a surprise? No.”
Coaches seem to have a different view.
“I have no idea what it is going to look like moving forward,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin, a member of the NFL’s rule-making competition committee, said at a news conference last week after losing a replay challenge of an offensive pass-interference call made against the Steelers during a win over the Cincinnati Bengals. “If anybody does, I’d appreciate it. I don’t think any of us have a feel on what that looks like.”
Tomlin called the interference rulings being made on replay a “moving target” for coaches.
After losing a challenge on which he tried to get defensive pass interference called against the Philadelphia Eagles in a game late last month, it was Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur who said: “I really don’t know what pass interference is any more.”
But trends have emerged. Coaches, it seems, have been slow to realize it is nearly impossible to have an on-field call of pass interference overturned, even when there is only slight contact involved. There is a better chance to have a non-call reversed via replay, although even that remains a long shot.
Through the first four weeks of the season, there was only one reversal of a pass-interference penalty called on the field — including both offensive and defensive pass interference — among seven replay reviews. There were six reversals among 24 replay reviews of non-calls. That made, in all, seven reversals among 31 reviews.
Coaches were among the leading advocates for the rule change ratified by the owners in March, which came on the heels of the missed pass-interference call victimizing the New Orleans Saints in their loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC title game in January. Coaches were said at the time to be unanimous in their support.
The competition committee had expressed wariness based on its long-standing reluctance to make judgment calls by the onfield officials reviewable. Owners approved the new system on a oneyear basis, meaning it will be up for reconsideration after this season.
In his weekly radio appearance on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said that those in the league should “be careful what you wish for.” Dallas’s Jason Garrett was among the coaches who pushed the hardest in March for the change. But Jones said Tuesday “it’s very hard to sit there and add another layer of judgment” to officiating with replay reviews of interference.
“Replay, in my mind, should be there for a very egregious situation that just was blatantly missed,” he said. “I think the one in New Orleans, the one that started this recent rule, was egregious and should have been reviewed. But to have it on every play and have it at the will of the coach to make those calls, to have it done that way, is really kind of not as succinct as I like to see officiating.”
For now, the NFL is taking a wait-and-see approach, hoping that coaches make the necessary adjustments and that the perception of the new system changes.