Patriots coach Bill Belichick, whose Patriots dynasty was propelled by an instant replay reversal in the famous Tuck Rule Game, loves instant replay so much that he proposes making everything reviewable. Unsurprisingly, the coach who lost the Tuck Rule Game doesn’t love replay so much.
In fact, former Raiders coach Jon Gruden, now an ESPN analyst, said in an interview with Men’s Fitness that he believes the NFL should do away with replay reviews completely.
“I would eliminate all of it,” Gruden said. “Everything’s disputed now. Was he inbounds? Was it a turnover? It’s taken the juice out of the stadium. There are too many timeouts. Let the people on the field officiate and hold them accountable. Look, there’s going to be some bang-bang plays that have to be officiated. And who’s going to make the decision? The instant replay man in New York City?”
Gruden is right that some “instant” replay delays take way too long, and it can get tedious for the fans in the stadium to have to sit there waiting for the referee and the New York officiating office to make up their minds. But his proposal is never going to happen. The league has shown interest only in expanding the use of instant replay, not in reining it in and certainly not in eliminating it. Instant replay is here to stay.