There’s no secret that the NFL has had an officiating problem for a number of seasons now. We know the story for making pass interference reviewable because of the outcome of the Los Angeles Rams and New Orleans Saints NFC Championship game last season but making more penalties reviewable hasn’t been the answer, either.
Unfortunately, through six weeks of the 2019 NFL season, we’ve witnessed how when you make a subjective call reviewable, it doesn’t even come close to how fans would expect it to be called. As of October 11, NFL head coaches are just 1-for-21 on pass interference challenges this season since Week 3. Going back to the opening of the season, there have been only seven successful challenges out of 40 instances.
NFL Officiating: The Problem With Subjective Penalties
Pass interference is a tough call because at times it can look outright like a defender hindered a receiver’s inability to catch a ball and other times a mere bump that has drawn a flag.
On a Week 6 Monday Night Football matchup between the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions, we witnessed Clete Blakeman‘s crew throw two flags on Lions defender Trey Flowers for illegal hands to the face. Both flags would extend two Packers drives allowing them, ultimately, to win the game, 23-22.
You can see Flowers’ hands drive upward on left tackle David Bakhtiari‘s upper body area, but it’s unclear whether or not it was truly an illegal hand to the face. Did Flowers truly, forcefully, use his hands for an advantage? Or did Bakhtiari sell the call to help his team win the game?
https://twitter.com/AwfulSportsNews/status/1183947665912090624
Regardless of which side of the call you stand on, the point is we shouldn’t use this injustice — and it’s just not this game, mind you — to make more and more rules subjected to be reviewable. Especially, if we’re going with the nature of how pass interference has been called.
How Do We Improve Officiating?
Whether it’s subjective or objective — and that does indeed differ from person to person –it’ll be tough for officials to get it right. What’s the point of having the Head of Officiating, Al Riveron, even look at plays if they’re not going to get them right?
NFL vice president of operations, Troy Vincent, said that they got the calling wrong when they flagged Flowers for illegal hands to the face. If less than 24 hours have passed where you acknowledge the wrong call was made, then surely a number of officials on the field and in New York can take a long time getting the call right and picking up the flag.
Vincent said the “foul wasn’t there” after reviewing tape of the second illegal hands to the face penalty and that it is not the kind of call you want to see officials make.https://t.co/b4DB0eLiZl
— Sunday Night Football on NBC (@SNFonNBC) October 15, 2019
It’s great and all to admit your mistake and issue an apology to the Lions and their fans — who have every right to have a game taken away from them — but until better heads and eyes are making the decisions, then nothing will change.
The NFL Needs a New System
ESPN analyst Booger McFarland was visibly and audibly upset with the two calls made on Monday night and by going off his intentions, McFarland — and most likely millions of fans — would like more calls to be reviewable.
The nature of the sport creates its entertainment value when the play is not interrupted with flags and whistles. Adding more penalties to that scope would begin to hinder the nature and pace of the game itself. Do you want to make the game safer for players? Great.
But the fandom and success boil on the right calls being made on the field. The NFL is a billion-dollar industry but has yet to really invest in the officiating side of the game. Invest some money into your officials and improve upon your system.
FIFA recently took to VAR (Video Assistant Referee) officiating to help get calls right. Perhaps its time for the NFL to expand to a ref in the booth, as well. Whatever form it takes, the NFL fans should be game with that decision, but the product has to get better in 2020 and beyond.
