The NFL isn’t the only football league weighing whether to give coaches more power to challenge officiating decisions.
The CFL’s rules committee Thursday approved a plan to allow coaches to challenge pass interference penalties and uncalled, but possible, pass interference fouls, the league reported on its website. The proposal must still be ratified by the league’s board of governors later this spring.
According to the proposal, CFL coaches can challenge either a pass interference penalty or a possible instance of pass interference as many as three times before the final three minutes of the game, the league’s website said. (The CFL’s challenging rules are similar to the NFL’s; if a team makes two successful challenges, it gains a third challenge.)
In the final three minutes, coaches can challenge pass interference just once, and only if the challenging team has a timeout.
Upon the challenge, the pass interference penalty — or unflagged play that could constitute pass interference — would be reviewed by video.
“Pass interference is one of the toughest calls to make,” CFL vice president of officiating Glen Johnson said, Thursday, according to CFL.ca. “This gives us a second opportunity to get it right on a penalty that can have a great impact on a game.”
The NFL is weighing a proposal from New England that would allow coaches to challenge all judgment calls, including pass interference.