NFL coaches may be allowed to throw the challenge flag for pass interference penalties next season.
After a crucial non-call went against the Saints on Sunday, Mark Maske of the Washington Post reports that coaches’ challenges may be used on pass interference, and potentially other penalties, starting in the 2019 preseason.
“It will be discussed at length along with additional fouls that coaches feel should be subject to review,” one source said.
That has been discussed before, and has been successfully implemented in the Canadian Football League, but it has never received the support from the required three-fourths of the owners to change any rule.
The bad call against the Saints could convince enough owners to reconsider that the rule could change this year. And it wouldn’t be surprising to see replay review considered for other fouls as well, including facemasking -- which should have been called on a crucial Jared Goff run before the Rams settled for a field goal in the fourth quarter. It’s probably only a matter of time before replay review is routinely used to call penalties that the officials on the field missed.