“With great power comes great responsibility”- Uncle Ben “Spiderman”
“Replay Assist” is what it’s called. This new technology is helping to overturn ‘obvious’ incorrect calls in real time and was recently rolled out by the NFL. It was a term I heard during Week 1 and decided to educate myself, and this is what I found helpful.
The following article from Football Zebras details it best:
“Rules School: What Replay Assist Can and Can’t Do”
“The replay official also uses the assist to refine a spot when the line-to-gain or goal line is threatened, even though it would not make a change to the ultimate first down or touchdown call. Additionally, when a penalty flag is thrown, the replay official can help refine the spot of the foul. Replay still does not get involved in judgement calls such as holding or intentional grounding, other than to give a spot of the foul. Forward progress is also an element that is not reviewable, although if forward progress is called on the field, replay can review anything up to the point where the defense initiates contact with the ball carrier.
Replay assist will not get involved in a situation just to save a coach’s challenge. In the regular season, replay assist quickly jumped in on a catch call but missed a second angle that showed that possession wasn’t established. In this case, an incomplete pass which was changed to complete via replay assist required a coach’s challenge to reverse it back to incomplete. If there is a catch call that requires multiple angles to establish, replay assist will pass on it. When it comes to catch calls, the ‘obvious factor’ must really be there in light of this assist error in the regular season.”
The entire article from Football Zebras is informative and gives fair information on the topic, if you would like to research it more. I found it helpful as I was learning about this new subject.
The following is from Operations NFL website:
- Penalty enforcement
- Confirmation of the proper down
- Spot of a foul
- Game clock administration
- Possession of a loose ball
- Complete or incomplete pass
- Loose ball touching a boundary line, goal line, or end line
- Location of the football or a player in relation to a boundary line, line of scrimmage, line to gain, or goal line
- Player down by contact (when not ruled down on the field)
As a guy that has lost many wagers on an ‘obvious’ missed call in an NFL game, I can get on board with this new technology, but let’s not forget Uncle Ben’s sage advice in the process. It’s in my nature to be both open minded and skeptical simultaneously. I want to believe that new things are good and that they will make things better moving forward, but I’m also skeptical that those controlling the ‘good things’ will not use them for good or for the better at all times, rather for personal gain. *sips coffee. Truth be told, no one will care unless an ‘obvious’ call goes against their team Now is probably a good time to heed a thought from Horace:
“Rule your mind, or it will rule you.”
Find the humor and keep on Movin.’
Whit W.