Seth Vigdor
For the first time in like forever, the NFL has finally gotten something right. On Wednesday they approved new officiating procedures for the Playoffs. It’s been a long time coming. There have been too many screw ups on a consistent basis to not have taken some sort of action on the matter.
The NFL is trying to safeguard against any more possible officiating blunders that teams and fans have become accustomed to. They released the following memo.
“For the 2015 postseason, consultation may occur between the referee and the VP of Officiating or his designee located in the league’s officiating headquarters in New York regarding the correct application of playing rules. In addition to the VP of Officiating’s current role in Instant Replay, this consultation will only include the appropriate assessment of penalty yardage, the proper administration of the game clock, the correct down, or any other administrative matter not currently reviewable.
This will not include the ability to call or change a foul, or otherwise become involved in on-field judgment calls that are not subject to the current Instant Replay system.”
This is huge. This gives the ref a second eye just in case. No games should be decided by a poor call.
Interesting move by #NFL to allow contact between leg office & refs during games. Should eliminate stupid delays. Hopefully used judiciously
— Jason Cole (@JasonCole62) December 16, 2015
An officiating crew was recently demoted due to their screw ups in the Cardinals/49ers game. Refs also messed up a Patriots/Bills game from late November. Earlier in the season, the Lions/Seahawks game was butchered by the refs and it’s just happening way too often.
Wednesday was a good day for the fans of the NFL.