NFL drops reviled pass interference review after only one season

The NFL’s experiment with a replay review system for pass interference is ending after just one season. The rule, which was implemented in 2019 on a one-year trial basis, wasn’t placed on the agenda by the competition committee for next month’s owners meetings.

Upon further review, the NFL is throwing out its controversial pass interference rule.

The NFL’s experiment with a replay review system for pass interference is ending after just one season. The rule, which was implemented in 2019 and allowed for a coach’s challenge for interference calls or noncalls, wasn’t even placed on the agenda by the league’s competition committee for next month’s owners meetings. The meetings are scheduled to be held outside Los Angeles on May 20-21, although there is a chance the owners will meet via conference call if there is a continued shelter-in-place order because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The competition committee will put forward a rule that would prevent teams from “manipulating the game clock by committing multiple dead-ball fouls while the clock is running.” In last season’s AFC wild-card game between the Titans and Patriots, Tennessee coach Mike Vrabel purposely had his team take two delay-of-game penalties and ran more than a minute off the clock. Patriots coach Bill Belichick employed a similar tactic against the Jets last season, calling it “a loophole that will be closed and probably should be closed.”

The pass interference replay system came under frequent criticism last season. All replay challenges of interference calls and noncalls were reviewed in the league’s New York office. There had to be “clear and obvious visual evidence” of an incorrect call or noncall.

According to the NFL, there were 101 stoppages for instant replay review related to pass interference, with just 24 overturning the on-field ruling.