On the surface, the National Football League’s ‘Replay Assist’ was supposed to make things easier for officials. It was supposed to make things simpler for coaches and to a certain degree, even for fans. In reality however, it appears that ‘Replay Assist’ (RA), has just continued to muddy the waters for all involved.
Earlier this season, Mike Tomlin lost a challenge during a situation in which RA was being used. Tomlin should have known the rule – especially since he is on the Competition Committee – yet the incident still highlighted one of the issues with it. He further addressed RA in an interview with Bob Labriola back on December 1st. (Italicized portions are mine)
Q. What is replay assist, and how is it utilized?
A. It’s a tool used by officiating to be more accurate, to help administer the game, and to do it without disrupting the game are the major components of it. And so it helps with things like the spotting of the football and things of that nature. Clear and obvious things. And they communicate with headsets to the officiating crew, and sometimes the viewer doesn’t even know what’s transpired.
Q. What about the coaches? Do they keep you guys in the loop when it’s happening?
A. No question, and I’m really sensitive to it, because I’m on the Competition Committee. They do a pretty good job of communicating. Oftentimes it’s a little bit tricky because you might have started the process of your decision-making prior to you getting the clarification. So we’ve got to be light on our feet sometimes, because the fluidity of the communication gets challenged just depending on how long it takes them to identify an issue and correct it.
Q. You mentioned spotting the ball would be something replay assist is used for. What other kind of things?
A. Clear and obvious things. Catch or no catch. Erroneous penalties and things of that nature might assist the officiating crew in terms of picking up a flag.
Q. But penalties are not subject to replay.
A. They cannot add a penalty. They can help take an egregious or erroneous penalty off the ground.
It Came to a Head Yesterday
In Sunday’s loss to the Eagles, there were several instances regarding the subjectivity of RA. The end zone incident, in which two Steelers were hit with personal foul calls while the Eagles had none, was a perfect opportunity to use RA. Numerous videos from several angles all show Darius Slay, Jr throwing a punch at Darnell Washington among other haymakers thrown.
Later in the game, Jalen Carter delivered a vicious head slap to the side of Connor Heyward’s head on a Steelers’ punt. It was properly flagged but incorrectly implemented. Officials said the incident occurred after the punt was away meaning the Eagles would retain possession. Again, video replay clearly showed the ball had not been kicked yet. Again I ask, isn’t this an easy use of Replay Assist?
Referencing Tomlin’s comments from above, he states that officials cannot ‘add’ a penalty but that they can change an erroneous one. Don’t yesterday’s examples fall perfectly into this category?
I would much rather the NFL just get rid of Replay Assist then constantly use it in it’s current subjective state. Like when Replay Review itself first appeared, it’s not a perfect system and it’s even further away than Replay Review in terms of getting calls right.
