Gumbo
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- Mar 19, 2019
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Far more important that the recommended rules changes made by the Competition Committee on Friday were the rules changes no recommended by the rule-recommending body.
The group suggested only two changes: Expansion of defenseless-player protections and closure of the Belichick dead-ball loophole. This means that it did not suggest renewal on a one-year or permanent basis replay review for pass interference. It also means that it did not suggest any other device aimed at preventing a repeat of the pass interference non-call in the Rams-Saints 2018 NFC Championship.
Specifically, the Competition Committee made no recommendation regarding the potential use of a sky judge, despite reported support for the approach among the group. Although the details never have been fully fleshed out, the ideal use of sky judge would entail the hiring of an eighth officiating crew member who would monitor all TV angles from a booth (i.e., everything we see at home) and confer with the referee regarding things the seven officials on the field may have missed with the naked eye while hoping to not be trampled by the fully-armored gladiators.
When owners meet in May, either in person or by tele/videoconference, they’ll consider proposals from the Ravens and Chargers regarding a “booth umpire” and/or a Senior Technology Adviser. But proposals made by individual teams rarely gain much traction absent the imprimatur (SAT word) of the Competition Committee.
Ultimately, the owners will decide whether and to what extent rules changes are made. It’s entirely possible if not likely that the end result of the 2020 offseason rules-revision process will entail a retreat to the position the league assumed prior to 2019: Pass interference gets called if at all by the officials on the field, with no official mechanism for fixing obvious errors like the one that caused all of New Orleans to revolt against the NFL.