This year will be the 20th anniversary of the NFL using replay to “get the call right”.
I don’t know anyone old enough to remember officiating before the installation of replay who thinks that it has improved the game. And yet, in no small measure to the tipping point of the Saints getting “jobbed” out of a Super Bowl appearance, the league is not only set to expand replay, but expand it in a way that second guesses the previously sacred “judgement calls”.
Last March, teams voted 31-1 to adopt a rule that will make pass interference reviewable. Based on that margin, the NFL has no idea of the Pandora’s Box it is opening.
The only thing for sure, I believe, is that this will lead to longer games.
The fundamental problem is one of mis-diagnosis. Sure, there are bad calls, and nothing can completely eliminate those. The more specific problems are the “No-calls”, which is what happened in last year’s NFC title game, and almost certainly sent the wrong team to the Super Bowl.
When the diagnosis is wrong, so too will be the treatment.
I’ll go as far as to say that expanded NFL replay will not only fail to improve officiating, but that replay in and of itself has made officiating worst.
To understand my contention, we should leave the realm of football and consider entertainers of another type:
The Flying Wallendas.
As many of you know, the Wallenda family has been walking high wires for years. One of the things that attract many to their exploits is the lack of a safety net. Either they get it right or they could literally die, as was the case with Karl Wallenda in 1978. As tragic as that was, given that there have been seven generations tempting fate, it is beyond remarkable that there haven’t been more fatalities. I attribute that to the conditions and environment in which they perform. Because there is no safety net, there is no place for complacency. Focus is not optional but is a lifesaving necessity.
In the NFL, instant replay has become a safety net for officials. I don’t necessarily believe this to be a conscious thing. In fact, I believe that the subconscious is even more intractable. Just as I do not believe the Wallendas would be as focused if they knew that there was not a safety net below them, I do not believe that NFL officials would miss as much if they did not have instant replay.
To put it another way, I do not believe that Prince would have taught himself how to play 27 different instruments had the technology of today existed when he came up. Necessity and conditions greatly influence performance.
Add to this the fact that officials were emboldened during their last work stoppage by how abysmal their replacements were and the embarrassment it caused the league. There is a correlation between one’s notion of how much he is needed and his complacency.
In the case of many, such as recently retired Ed Hochuli, who is an attorney and worth about $6 million, officiating was never vital to his financial wellbeing.
So how do we fix NFL officiating?
- I believe the answer is counter-intuitive. We don’t need to expand replay, we need to reduce replay. It should be limited to inbounds, scoring, and turnovers. That is it. Some may contend that first downs should be included. If you do you are extending the game;
- Fire the bad ones. A $200K a year weekend gig in which you keep your league paid travel miles and only work 6 months out of the year is a privilege, not a right. Most officials are like Hochuli and have day jobs. They will survive.
- Understand that perfection is not the enemy of the good. No system is going to eliminate all bad and missed calls. If you want to make EVERYTHING reviewable within the last 2 minutes of the game, fine. That would have corrected the missed call between LA/NO.
An acronym for the NFL is “not for long”. Players and coaches have long known this if they did not perform. It should have the exact same meaning for officials.
