Sunday’s Steelers-Ravens game included two very controversial decisions by the league office’s replay apparatus to overturn rulings on the field regarding catches. On Monday, Ravens coach John Harbaugh said he spoke to the NFL about both the decision to wipe out an interception of a batted ball (turning it into a reception by Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers) and the decision to take away what the on-field officials had determined to be a touchdown catch by Ravens tight end Isaiah Likely.
“We had a conversation with the league office, and they were they were gracious enough to spend a lot of time on the phone with myself and [G.M.] Eric and [former NFL official] Tony Michalek,” Harbaugh told reporters. “And we appreciate that. It didn’t clear anything up, it didn’t make it any easier to understand, either one of the two calls, they’re very, very hard to understand how they get overturned. But they did, and that’s where it stands.”
Harbaugh later was asked whether the discussion included an effort to reconcile the replay ruling that Rodgers had completed the process of making a catch with the replay ruling that Likely had not.
“That’s part of the conversation. Sure, that was weaved into the conversation,” Harbaugh said. “I mean, you know, [Rodgers is] going to the ground, you have to have control of the football, you have to survive the ground when you make a catch. I mean, that’s what a catch is. You know, you can’t say the time element’s like that, and he satisfies the time element when you’re going to the ground. The time element doesn’t apply to going to the ground. So it’s a pretty clear cut.”
It is clear cut. At least it should be. Whoever made the replay ruling as to Likely (and no one ever knows for sure who makes these rulings) decided — in defiance of the rule — that Likely could only complete the process of the catch by getting a third foot down. His effort to extend the ball and/or to ward off the defender who was trying to bat it away was not considered, even though it absolutely should have been.
Likewise, whoever made the replay ruling as to Rodgers necessarily determined that he maintained possession through going to the ground, even though he clearly did not.
It’s an astounding outcome, one that not only ignores the rulebook but also fails to honor the “clear and obvious” standard that applies to every replay situation.
More than a decade ago, the NFL centralized the replay process in order to ensure that the “clear and obvious” standard would be consistently applied by the same person, eliminating the potentially varying interpretations that had been adopted by the various different referees, who previously had final say.
Now, “clear and obvious” is disappearing. Rulings from on-field officials are not receiving the deference that the rules clearly require.
It’s not good. For the league, for the team, for the officials, for anyone. And it introduces the ever-present possibility that someone (who, no one knows for sure) will ignore the real-time judgment of the officials and supply their own instead.
At a time when the legalization, normalization, and monetization of gambling has caused many to be looking for any/all evidence that the fix is in, the quickest way to legitimize those concerns is to have a replay function that changes rulings in a way that disregards the rules.
That point can’t be overemphasized. Why even have officials making these decisions if someone in Manhattan is going to ignore them when performing replay review?
It’s not what the owners voted for, and it’s incumbent on the owners to clean this mess up. Because it’s becoming increasingly clear and obvious that Commissioner Roger Goodell and his lieutenants have gone rogue and re-written the rulebook.
