While establishment voices like John Elway and Stephen Jones have already started downplaying the idea of expanding replay review for pass interference, there are other voices within the football world who think a solution to last week’s NFC Championship Game fiasco exists.
Via Les Bowen of the Philadelphia Daily News, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said sometimes you have to shrug off some missed calls, and that coaches can get used to it at times, but added an important caveat.
“When things are obvious, and everyone in the world knows, that you do whatever it takes to get it right,” Shanahan said.
It doesn’t get more obvious that Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman’s whacking of Saints receiver Tommylee Lewis. Robey-Coleman admitted as much after the game, saying he was willing to take the penalty over the risk of giving up a potential touchdown. Every American with a high-definition television knows it, so the possibility of an official in the booth having some kind of input in the process doesn’t seem farfetched (much in the same way a concussion spotter can stop play to protect players).
Patriots coach Bill Belichick has always advocated for expanding what can be reviewed, given a limited number of challenges in the hands of coaches. And the CFL model seems utterly reasonable — coaches can challenge pass interference, but only get one challenge per game and they have to have a timeout to be able to use it. The fact the time of CFL games has averaged 2:50 and 2:51 the last two seasons suggests the sanctity of the three-hour game isn’t necessarily at stake by taking the chance to get a potentially significant play right.
Bills General Manager Brandon Beane cited the CFL rule, and said he’d have to know the specific wording of a proposal before committing to an endorsement.
“You’d have to do something everybody’s going to be comfortable with,” Beane said. “I think if you’re looking to shorten the game, and now you’re going the other way with it, it may turn people off.”
Change will be difficult, though Saints coach Sean Payton’s presence on the competition committee guarantees the topic will come up.
Whether he can generate enough support from voices like Shanahan — such that the voices of coaches ever really matter in NFL rules decisions — remains to be seen.
