It’s good that at least one NFL owner has had the willingness to speak out about the current problems with the league’s replay-review process. It will be better if more owners follow suit.
It would be ideal if the men who coach the game do the same.
That could be coming, perhaps if things continue on their current path. But coaches have a thing about, you know, not giving up thousands of dollars in fines for criticizing the league in ways that they technically shouldn’t.
For now, they’re complaining privately about the situation. As one coach told PFT on Wednesday, coaches collectively have no confidence in the current system, which as of 2017 gives the league office final say over whether a ruling on the field will be confirmed or reversed.
The problem is that V.P. of officiating Al Riveron and his lieutenant for replay purposes, Russell Yurk, have been misapplying the standard on multiple occasions this year, replacing the “clear and obvious” evidence rule for replay reversal with, by all appearances, a frame-by-frame, super-slow-motion assessment of the whether the call was correct or incorrect becoming the norm, and no deference (or reference) whatsoever being given to the ruling on the field.
Making things worse is the fact that the judgment of Riveron/Yurk has, in multiple situations, seemed to conflict with the available evidence. If they were getting it right, even if they were getting the standard wrong, it would be OK. Whether the Kelvin Benjamin catch or the Zach Miller catch or either of the Austin Seferian-Jenkins catches (or other reversals that went unnoticed), the failure to apply the proper standard was one thing. The failure to properly interpret the video was quite another.
Regardless, the league’s biggest concern right now should be shoring up the replay system, both for the balance of the 2017 and beyond. Even if they get it right before the postseason, the postseason already has been compromised, based on the arguable misapplication of the standard in the Patriots-Steelers game (Jesse James), which essentially determined the No. 1 seed.
Misapplication of the replay standard may have determined the No. 1 seed in the NFC, too. Go back and look at the late interception by Eagles cornerback Ronald Darby, which set up the game-winning field goal. The ball both hits the ground and moves before he secures it, making it not a catch.
Did Riveron/Yurk overreact to the criticism that flowed from Sunday’s reversal of the Benjamin touchdown? It’s a fair point to ponder. Ultimately, the current situation allows points to be pondered that are both fair and unfair, since there’s now fodder for fans to suspect that the league office is using this device as a tool for determining the outcomes of games.
I’ve never thought that was the case, and I still don’t. But I think that anyone who wants to think that now has more evidence than ever for doing so, all based on the failure to apply the “clear and obvious” standard.
