More NFL officiating reviews for one year only? Yeah, right | Opinion
PHOENIX - With team owners voting this week to add muscle to the NFL's replay command center in New York, the genie has officially left the bottle.
A punch thrown in the heat of the moment? That has long been a no-no that could result in disqualification. But now the call could come from New York if the officials in the stadium just happened to miss it. And yeah, tack on a 15-yard penalty, too.
Blowing it on an obvious pass interference call? Now there's a backup plan in place for the replacement officials - pressed to detect nuances in an NFL game so much faster than the college competition they adjudicated - to get a call right that everyone else in the stadium and at home knew better in real time.
Talk about the long arm of the law.
The NFL just expanded the power of its instant replay apparatus, of course in the name of getting it right. The first measure allows for replay to better settle any he said-he said skirmish that might erupt. The second one amends a rule for one-year only - and only in the event the NFL has to use replacement refs - that will allow for broad communication with the fill-in officials to correct blatant errors.
One year? Replacements only?
Yeah, right. Maybe now, but more is coming later.
The genie is out now, and if all the technology is as good as proponents say it is, it will be impossible to put it back in the bottle. Make no mistake: While the NFL's labor standoff with the NFL Referees Association (NFLRA) provides a common-sense reason to utilize replay to support the replacements, this is where the state of officiating - combined with evolving technology - was headed all along. With or without the current labor strife.
The rulebook green light this week signals a next step towards more replay in the future.
Right, Jerry?
Oh, man. Anything you do with that, it could be viewed as negotiation," Jerry Jones, the Dallas Cowboys owner, responded during a break at the NFL owners meetings. So, I'm going to be real simple: Yes."
Then Jones connected dots between the impressive technology (think miniature pylon cameras) and the NFL's entertainment value (think cash registers).
In an environment bolstered by prop bets, there must be a price in getting a call right - or price to be paid for blowing it.
I have a lot of hope for improving the entertainment value, and, if you will, the accuracy involved when it comes to somebody making a judgment," Jones said. I think we're in for some great future days of getting better all the way around. And we all think we can do a great job of zeroing in and training, looking for nuances to help the decision making regarding the calls on the field."
Rich McKay, co-chairman of the NFL's competition committee, doesn't deny the milestone flavor of this week's action. He recognizes how methodical change tends to be with regards to the rules, how politics and tradition can sometimes weigh down on adjustments that require approval from 24 owners. Typically, NFL rules changes evolve in sequences that could involve one-year trials and weighing unintended consequences.
Maybe that's why McKay seemed a bit surprised to gather that owners want more, not less, use of the technology.
There's a little better appetite for this than I thought going into that room," McKay said.
Now there are other barometers to consider. There's always the pace of the game factor. The average NFL game is about 3 hours, 12 minutes. And the league is meticulous in efforts to reduce that figure. It doesn't want expanded replays bogging down the product.
That's why McKay emphasized the replay assist" reviews that the league conducts - about 170 reviews last season that were not initiated by coaches challenges - should be completed with 20 seconds left on the play clock before the next snap.
We're not interested in 3-hour, 20-minute games," McKay said.
Still, maintaining credibility may pose to be an even bigger threat in the expanded replay space for the NFL. The league has already acknowledged that it doesn't have the same level of staffing in the command center to review games in the 1 p.m. ET window on Sunday that it does for 4 p.m. and primetime games. And that suggests there's a need for more staffers overall for replay reviews, which could fuel natural questions about training and competency.
After the call comes from New York," who conducts the review?
It's a Big Brother" dynamic the NFL can do without at a time when conspiracy theories can quickly go viral. McKay defends the personnel in the command center and the replay officials in the stadium, yet is undoubtedly mindful of perceptions.
As we continue to try to build this out, there probably will be a little more transparency," McKay said, But it's got to be done not at the sacrificing game time and making it stop and slow everything down."
Still, a tweak coming this season will require that referees announce every play in which replay assist is used.
We want people to know that the people in New York looked at it, blessed it, and this is the outcome," McKay said. That's the balancing act going on that way."
There's been much debate over the years about the merits of allowing flags to be thrown on the field by officials who are not on the field. After all, there's a human element with officiating and sometimes the humans miss calls.
Interestingly, McKay said that the impetus for allowing flags to be thrown on the field from New York in the case of the disqualifications came from two coaches on the competition committee - Denver's Sean Payton and Minnesota's Kevin O'Connell. The original proposal allowed for replay to be used to eject players but not for penalty yardage.
When the coaches pointed out the absurdity of, say, a team having to punt even after an opponent was disqualified, the proposal was tweaked. And it passed.
Instead of worrying about votes, it became about the right thing to do," McKay said.
Which, with Big Brother watching or not, is supposed to be the bottom line in getting it right.
Contact Bell atjbell@usatoday.comor follow on X: @JarrettBell
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why expanded replay is likely here to stay for NFL referees