Fingers crossed replay changes do the trick
League hoping new rules on pass interference don’t do more harm than good
The lasting image of an otherwise successful 2018 NFL season was of the missed pass-interference call in the NFC championship game that helped send the Rams, rather than the Saints, to the Super Bowl.
The officiating blunder hung over the league’s marquee matchup and took some of the luster off a season of captivating play and recovering TV ratings — and it led franchise owners to take the step of making interference calls and non-calls reviewable with instant replay for the 2019 season.
So, all will be well, right?
The NFL can only hope so.
While there now exists the safety net of instant replay to, presumably, prevent an officiating gaffe like the one in Rams-Saints from deciding a game, league leaders must cross their fingers that any unintended consequences of the replay change don’t result in more harm than good.
“I’m a glass-half-full guy,” former NFL referee John Parry said. “I hope it works. I really do. Time will tell. There are going to be plays where we all agree (whether pass interference should be called), but there are going to be some where we don’t all agree.”
The new replay system was in effect for last week’s Hall of Fame Game, in which a first-half challenge by the Broncos resulted in a 43-yard interference call against them being upheld, and it will get put to the test in the first full week of preseason games starting Thursday. Owners ratified the switch for one season only, meaning the system will be up for re-evaluation next offseason.
Under the new rule, teams can question interference calls and non-calls under the existing coaches’ challenge system in the first 28 minutes of each half. In the final two minutes of each half, an interferencerelated review would have to be initiated by the replay assistant in the press box.
“I feel like the NFL officiating department and our coaches have spent a lot of time working on this,” said Falcons President Rich McKay, chairman of the NFL’s competition committee. “I feel very confident that we’re getting on the same page and we’re going to be able to successfully implement this change.”
The competition committee previously resisted making judgment calls by the officials, such as pass interference, subject to replay review. But the furor over the Rams-Saints fiasco changed everything.
The potential problem with the new system is that while no one would dispute that the Rams’ Nickell Robey-Coleman committed interference when he plowed into the Saints’ Tommylee Lewis before a Drew Brees pass arrived late in regulation, it won’t always be so clear-cut whether a defender’s hand placed on a receiver’s shoulder, or a relatively subtle tug or push, should result in a penalty.
“One thing everyone will agree on is we needed a system to correct that egregious, ‘Oh, boy,’ jump-out-at-you play ... (but) we’ve added a subjective portion of the game to replay,” said Parry, the referee for last season’s Super Bowl, who retired from the NFL in April and now is a rules analyst for ESPN.
“I think we fell short a little bit. I’d like to see player safety be part of the discussion. That same play was an illegal hit to the receiver’s head.”
With the league’s officiating department in New York in charge of replay reviews, the success of the new system depends on the judgment of Al Riveron, the NFL’s senior vice president of officiating. Many within the league were displeased with Riveron’s handling of replay reviews on catch-or-no-catch calls a couple of years ago, suggesting Riveron was too focused on reofficiating plays via the minutiae of replay rather than merely correcting blatant mistakes.
“It has to be obvious,” an executive with one NFL team said of replay for interference, speaking anonymously to provide a frank assessment of the new rule. “If you and I are arguing about it, it shouldn’t be overturned. ... I think (Riveron) learned his lesson a couple years ago on catch-no catch. That’s why we had the new catch rule. ... It can’t be possibly wrong. It has to be obviously wrong.”
This marks the NFL’s first foray into allowing replay to impose a penalty for an infraction that went uncalled.
If it goes well, it could be a step toward further expansion of replay, perhaps ultimately toward a system in which all calls or non-calls could be challenged.