![]() ![]() Other referees will be highly motivated to avoid mistakes that could impact their crew's evaluation. But most replay officials have not worked as conventional on-field officials, and their advice will not be binding. In truth, some referees already ask their replay officials for "off-the-books" help during games, via their wireless microphone connection. "The game should be called on the field with the support of the replay official in the stadium as well as New York when appropriate." "This is where officials, the referees are all involved, felt like they wanted to maintain control of the game," said Troy Vincent, the NFL's executive vice president of football operations. They will not, for example, be able to point out mitigating factors on subjective calls such as pass interference. If the affected coach does not challenge the call, the referee can listen to the replay official's information and decide to change the ruling. ![]() Replay officials, for example, can now advise referees if they see the ball bounce off the ground on what was ruled a completed catch. The furthest they are willing to go is allowing the existing replay official, who already sits in a stadium suite but is limited to assistance on plays that are reviewed, to advise referees in a handful of other "specific, objective aspects of a play when clear and obvious video evidence is present," according to the rule. ![]() Down by contact (when a player is not ruled down by contact on the field).Location of the football or a player in relation to the boundary line, the line of scrimmage, the line to gain or the goal line.Touching of a loose ball, boundary line, goal line or end line.Penalty enforcement, proper down, spot of a foul, game clock or possession.What can the replay official weigh in on? For now, however, owners and competition committee members consider the idea to be both fantasy - they don't think there are enough qualified candidates - and an intrusion on the basic tenet that games should be officiated on the field. The advance of technology and broadcast quality have laid bare the mistakes and missed calls that historically went unseen, a threat to competitive integrity that will only shine brighter as the league begins to embrace gambling.Ĭoaches have pushed for adding an eighth official to each crew and assigning them to a stadium suite with access to broadcast feeds and toggle technology. The NFL has been wrestling for years with the reality that television viewers sometimes have a better view of plays than any of the seven officials on the field. Nevertheless, let's take a closer look at how the game will - and won't - be changed by decisions the NFL made this week. Points per game and plays per game both rose. Average time of game, margin of victory and total penalties all fell. Five key factors tracked annually by the NFL competition committee all moved "in the direction fans would want them to go," committee chairman Rich McKay said. But after meeting twice this week, NFL owners signaled their belief that their on-field product remained remarkably intact after the pandemic-impacted 2020 season. It's possible that an additional rule or two will be approved at an owners meeting later this spring. And for the most part, they stared blankly at an esoteric proposal to revamp overtime and simply moved on. Rather than adopt a more radical solution to the decline in onside kick recoveries, they decided to tweak formation requirements. Instead of creating a full-time sky judge or a booth umpire, owners decided to formalize communication on a limited menu of calls from the replay official to referees. NFL rule changes for the 2021 season followed a familiar pattern: Big ideas ultimately led to a handful of modest adjustments.
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