Little skill required for replay

ONCE again the reality of a replay rule challenge was butchered on TV by TV. Sunday, during Eagles at Jets, Philadelphia was up, 30-18, but stopped on a fourth-and-1 from the Jets’ 34, 1:24 left in the third quarter. Philly coach Nick Sirianni threw a red flag to challenge the spot. On CBS, Andrew Catalon said Sirianni “is good at challenges,” having won three of his four. No! That’s one-dimensional, cut-and-paste stat-sheet silly. Replay challenges are often more a case of circumstances than conviction. Sirianni didn’t take classes in Applied Microscopic Replay Challenges. First, he doesn’t challenge unilaterally — and likely neither does any other head coach. They await quick input from assistant coaches above who are equipped with TV monitors. Second, it’s highly unlikely the Eagles would have used a replay challenge after such a play if, say, the game were in the first quarter. In this case, Sirianni had little to lose from the challenge. He had a 12-point lead late in the third and was well into the Jets’ turf. A losing challenge would give the Jets the ball in the same spot, their own 34. A reversal, at that point, would not only give Philly a first down, but best cement a win, which it did as the spot was changed to a first down in a 33-18 final. It wasn’t a matter of being “good at it,” but the application of common sense at that particular moment and those particular circumstances.

➤ TV’s new key to winning football games is to “run behind your pads” in order to “stay ahead of the chains.” Got it? Now go stick your foot in the ground and run downhill.

➤ Sorry, Wrong Addiction: So Ben Affleck is a recovering alcoholic who now appears in commercials encouraging people to lose their money betting on sports. Affleck’s co-star in the ads, Shaquille O’Neal, now endorses anything. He, too, must be teetering on homelessness and starvation.

➤ Graphic of the Week: Before Iowa and Michigan played for the Big Ten championship, there was a full-screen of numbers on the Big Ten Network comparing the teams’ stats — compiled over the last 17 years! Yes, for applicable enlightenment how can you not compare the 2006 Wolverines with the 2019 Hawkeyes?

➤ Big pay-per-view women’s cage match coming: Siri vs. Alexa.