Tomlin for more instant replays, unlike owner, GM
PHOENIX — Steelers owner Art Rooney II and general manager Kevin Colbert each have expressed their objections to expanding instant replay, fearful it will further slow the game and disrupt the pace.
But coach Mike Tomlin, a member of the competition committee that will present several proposals to expand replay, sounded as if his bosses could be disappointed. “I think the [competition] committee has an appetite for expanding replay that is significant that it hasn’t had in the past,” Tomlin said Monday during a break at the owners meetings. “It speaks to our desire to be active in the expansion of replay in an effort to get the most obvious plays correct, to have the kind of discussion that we’ve all been having who want to safeguard and protect the integrity of the game.”
The competition committee has proposed expanding replay for the 2019 season on a one-year trial basis. One proposal would add pass interference to the list of reviewable plays. Another would include roughing the passer and unnecessary contact on a defenseless player.
The push to expand replay reviews was heightened in the NFC championship game when an obvious passinterference penalty against Los Angeles Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman was not called, costing the New Orleans Saints a trip to the Super Bowl.
“I think it’s realistic to say plays annually stimulate discussion involving replay,” Tomlin said. “We’d all like to get to the point where we’re not reactionary in our actions, but you have to acknowledge there have been plays that have stimulated a lot of discussion, whether it’s what we’re talking about here or catch/no-catch a couple years ago. It seems annually it’s plays that stimulate our discussion and are a catalyst for change.”