Lesson Learned: What The NFL Should
Take Away From Championship Weekend
by Ransom Hawthorne | January 26, 2019
Every situation in life teaches us a lesson. Some are simple and straightforward, others deep and nuanced. The struggle for any parent, teacher, or coach, is to ensure that the proper lesson is learned. Some students might learn: “Do it right next time.”, while others learn: “It’s not worth trying, you’ll fail anyway.”. For the NFL, the NFC and AFC championships held some important lessons. Some that they should take to heart, and one that’s best left UN-learned. Making the necessary changes, and avoiding the unnecessary ones, is absolutely critical for the NFL, and its fans, moving forward.
Change The Replay Rules
When reviewing call on the field was first introduced, quite a few teams were nervous about it. To allay those fears, the NFL assured teams that calls would only be changed, if they were clearly wrong. This standard is stated, in the rulebook, as: “incontrovertible visual evidence”. By definition, incontrovertible means: “not able to be denied, or disputed” -Google Dictionary. If you’ve been a football fan, for any stretch of time, that either makes you chuckle, or seethe. Either way, the fact remains, that this standard is inconsistently applied, at best, and wherever subjectivity lurks, the chances or game altering, unfair, calls is significantly raised. The solution is simple: let officials make their rulings 100% based on the replay.
Think about it. Which is more likely to result in an accurate call, a replay with multiple angles and slow motion, or a split second call, based on a single, brief visual? In a business, you would never tell your employees to be limited by a previous decision, if new, and better, facts came to light. By allowing refs to make calls based on the replay, we may see more calls overturned, but at least the officiating will be fair and consistent. For Chiefs, the refs ignoring the “incontrovertible” standard led to Patriots keeping the ball. Ultimately, they probably got the call right, as Edleman didn’t seem to touch it, but that evidence was absolutely disputable. When Chiefs, later, challenged a Chris Hogan one-handed catch, the replay looked like an incomplete pass, but was too inconclusive to change the ruling. If refs are going to ignore the standard in some instances, let them ignore it in every instance, that would have cost Chiefs on one play, but at least helped them on the other, where Hogan’s catch would almost certainly have been ruled incomplete.
Change The Overtime Rules
I have zero issue, with the NFL’s overtime rules, as they stand, in the regular season. The playoffs, however, should be different. Just like teams aren’t allowed to tie, in the playoffs, the need to find a definite winner should also drive a change in overtime rules. With the rules slanted more and more, towards the offense, (the top four offenses played in the championship games), it seems a shame to settle an epic match with a coin toss. During the playoffs, teams should be allowed at least one opportunity to score. If both teams score TDs, next score wins. It still favors the team that starts first, but at least it will feel less like a forgone conclusion.
Don’t Make Uncalled Penalties Review-able
I feel for the Saints, and their fans. The way that game ended was just gut wrenching and utterly wrong. No excuse for that level of botched officiating. That said, reports that the NFL is considering making penalties review-able is beyond concerning. Now I have, for years, favored the ability to review called penalties (like the game-altering botched call against Chris Jones), but that wouldn’t have helped the Saints. If the NFL is truly looking at the review process, to correct this specific instance, fans should be scared. Penalties happen on every play, on both sides of the ball, with varying levels of severity. You allow coaches to challenge for uncalled penalties and games will be longer, more boring, and more subject to the influence of the referees. I’m sure that, if this does go into effect, that the standard for calling a penalty, after review, will certainly be “incontrovertible evidence”. What could possibly go wrong?
The NFL has maintained it’s status as the US’ top sport by adapting, as needed, through the years. A few minor tweaks could continue to improve the quality, and watch-ability, of the game. They must not over-react to the Saints game though. Discipline the official, institute better training, but don’t put more power in the hands of the people who keep making the mistakes in the first place. Clarity, simplicity, and objectivity are the cornerstones of fair competition, and the NFL has some work to do, before any of those adjectives can be applied to their rule-book and, consequently, their games.
Ransom Hawthorne — ArrowheadOne
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