Rowdy
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- Mar 18, 2019
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Members of the NFL’s competition committee have a firm grasp of the obvious, but they lack an obvious solution for what to do with replay for pass interference.
Via Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com, members of the committee still aren’t sure how to proceed, following a season in which it was made clear to coaches that only cases of felony battery would be considered for a flag where there wasn’t one previously.
“Overall the results were not great,” Packers president/CEO Mark Murphy said. “And I think it really is putting the New York [officiating] office in a very difficult position. . . . But it’s still pretty early [and] we’re looking at different options.”
The committee has met for two days in Indianapolis trying to figure out a better system than the passed-on-the-fly rules from last year. Once coaches were given the chance to challenge, only 24 of 101 reviews were reversed, and coaches rarely seemed clear on what qualified.
“Replay has been the most successful when you’re dealing with objective information,” Murphy said, “and we added a subjective nature to it. . . .
“The challenge for a lot of coaches was trying to determine what’s the standard. The standard was set pretty high. That’s subjective. The decision on the field is subjective and then the standard in review is subjective.”
Simply doing away with the rule might be the easiest answer, but it’s not one they’re prepared to take. After the Saints were jammed out of a trip to the Super Bowl because of a flagrant interference call which wasn’t, the league felt compelled to do, well, something.
“I certainly think we can be better if we have it,” Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones said. “That’s what we’re looking at: . . . how can we be better to where you feel good about it.”
Finding a way to be consistent in the application of whatever they come up with would be a bonus, as well.