NFL mulls ‘sky judge’ to aid officials’ calls
Concept has merit, but opens up countless questions about how it would actually work
The NFL is seriously considering the idea of adding an eighth game official, a “sky judge” stationed in the press box empowered to stop the game to correct a “clear and obvious” officiating gaffe.
That’s what Troy Vincent, the NFL’s executive vice-president of football operations, told a group of reporters on Friday morning at the conclusion of weeklong meetings of the league’s competition committee, which advises owners on the game’s rules including potential rule changes.
Vincent said there’s an impetus and widespread desire within league circles this off-season for some form of concrete action that would prevent a repeat of the catastrophic officiating mistake in the NFC championship game — an uncalled but strikingly obvious pass-interference foul against a Los Angeles Rams defender that likely cost the New Orleans Saints a Super Bowl berth. With so much record-breaking offence, 2018 “was a phenomenal season from a competitive standpoint,” Vincent said. But the controversial NFC championship game — which led to public protests and understandable weeks-long outrage in New Orleans — “just takes the air out of it,” he said.
“People want to get it right. We want you to get that call right.” The problem is, this concept begs myriad questions, Vincent pointed out during a frank discussion that lasted nearly 40 minutes.
First and foremost, does everyone in the league really want an official empowered to call a foul after the fact that was missed on the field?
That question alone compelled the several officials the league consulted this week to push back “hard,” Vincent said. Beyond that, who would fill that “sky judge” role? A relocated current referee? A retired referee? How much power would he or she be given? To correct which calls? And all game long or limited to the end of halves? And how might the roles of the current seven on-field officials change?
What would the league’s central replay command centre’s role be reduced to?
Would coaches’ challenges be affected? If so, how?
And on and on. You can see this concept is fraught with uncertainties.
“What are all the ramifications if we go in this direction?” Vincent said. “How does this affect mechanics and pace of game?” Indeed, the issues are many. And complicated.
The competition committee — which comprises a small group of owners, executives, GMs and head coaches — met this week with the GMs advisory subcommittee, the coaches subcommittee and others to flush out the “sky judges” concept.
They don’t have much time. At the NFL annual meeting March 24-27 in Phoenix, owners will vote on rule proposals put before them by the competition committee, which vets proposals submitted by clubs and often adds its own submissions. Vincent said there were 10 club proposals submitted this year, seven of which pertain in some manner to replay review. One revives Bill Belichick’s original idea to allow coaches to review any play they choose, whether a judgment call or not. Currently, judgment calls such as pass interference or holding are not challengeable or reviewable. A minimum of three quarters of owners must approve any rule change.
The competition committee and advisory groups must now hustle to try to figure out in the next 2-3 weeks all possible wrenches in a “sky judge” mechanism, if a proposal is to go before owners in Phoenix. Vincent stressed that there is no guarantee the concept would result in a proposal this year, although he said “absolutely it can get done” in time.
Perhaps the most contentious issue is which plays the sky judge could overturn.
“What was brought up by coaches was PI (pass interference) or defensive holding,” Vincent said. “And personal foul calls. So what’s inside (the) personal fouls ( bucket)? You’ve got roughing the passer, use of helmet, defenceless player, chop blocks — there are a whole bunch of things just there.
“So we left off here with, ‘Here’s the universe as we start marching toward Arizona,’” Vincent said. “Which fouls should we actually be considering in that bucket? We didn’t want (anyone) to give us an answer today, because there are a lot of fouls that you could include.”
One thing that seems to have been ruled out, Vincent said, was the central replay command centre in New York being empowered to call a penalty after the fact. Consulting officials this week were adamant that penalties must be called by the on-site officiating crew.
“The refs who were in the room, you could feel it and they verbalized it,” Vincent said. But the fact is, the central replay command centre is already empowered with the power to eject a player for an egregious act not caught by on-field officials but detected on replay.
No matter, if you had to wager, it sounds like this sky judge concept has ample momentum coming out of Indianapolis. Expect some form of a proposal to go before owners in Phoenix. How would they vote on it? Who knows.
Then again, this is how Vincent gauged league leaders this week: “I think the appetite is ... we’ve got to fix. There are some things we have to adjust and fix. No one is happy with that (NFC championship game’s) outcome.”