Competition Committee blows it; will ownership get it right?

[Rampage]

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Only the NFL could react to a controversy that calls into question the legitimacy of a Super Bowl participant by implementing a fix that wouldn’t have avoided the controversy.

That’s what the Competition Committee has done, by recommending an expansion of replay to “include all fouls for pass interference, roughing the passer, and unnecessary contact against a player who is in a defenseless posture.” The proposal won’t apply where a foul isn’t called, meaning that replay review won’t be available when the officiating crew fails to call pass interference or unnecessary roughness against a defenseless receiver.

Meaning that replay review wouldn’t have been available in the Rams-Saints NFC Championship, when Rams defensive back Nickell Robey-Coleman wiped out Saints receiver Tommylee Lewis.

The Competition Committee also has not proposed an AAF-style Sky Judge, which would make available visual evidence part of the first look, not part of the replay process. If available and properly implemented, that would have allowed for the on-field failure of the officiating crew to be rectified in real time.

There’s still hope. The people who own the teams, and thus own the league, can reject the failure of the Competition Committee to fix the situation, and they can implement a rule that properly addresses the situation. They need to; for all the excuse-making and hand-wringing over “unintended consequences,” the Competition Committee’s proposal could tend to cause more flags to be thrown, since the protection afforded by this proposal becomes available only when penalties have been called.

So the ball is in your court, owners. The Competition Committee has failed. Let’s see if you’ll do what should have been done in the NFC title game and overturn the ruling on the field.