Getty ImagesFor the first time ever, the NFL is moving to a rule that will give the league’s head of officiating — not the referee — final say on replay reviews.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said on Mike & Mike that under the 2017 rules, the replay review will go to head of officiating Dean Blandino, and although Blandino will consult with the referee on the field, it will be Blandino who makes the final decision. Although the NFL has already implemented the procedures that allow the referee to communicate with the league’s officiating office, in past years it was still the ref who had final say.
“We are going to centralize the replay back here in New York,” Goodell said. “Dean Blandino will have the final decision. We think that will move it much quicker.”
Goodell also said referees will be told to announce the replay decision immediately in the stadium, rather than waiting for the end of a commercial break, so that the ball can be spotted and the teams can be lined up and ready for the next play as soon as the commercial break ends.
“We want to get going. We want to be ready to play,” Goodell said.
The NFL has said that a major priority this season is speeding up games and cutting down on unnecessary delays. Streamlining replay is one way to do that.
Corruption will be much less complicated now.
With up to 8 or 9 simultaneous games Sunday @ 1, I hope they have more than one guy able to make final decisions.
Why not just say final decision will be made by the league review office? And that office will be appropriately staffed so as not to delay reviews.
Roger Goodell will want to play flag football next.
LOL.
You just knew this was coming.
Fire 🔥 Goodell 🐷
Holy mackerel! This used car salesman dweeb doesn’t even know the rules!
Well this is a really dumb idea. Leave it up to a replay official that should be in each stadium, absolutely not the league office. They mess up everything. From a logistics standpoint, what happens if two games have reviews at the same time? One game has to get in line and stop for 5 minutes while Blandino figures the other one out?
“Blandino will have final say”
In business, we call this CYA.
If it fails:
“I didn’t screw it up, as I pointed out early, this ball was in Blandino’s court.”
If it succeeds:
“A great leader allows his employees to make decisions that improve the company. This is why I gave Deano some autonomy here.”
Roger being Roger.
So it’s the replay review from on the field officials that’s slowing up the game – not the redundantly overloading commercials during the game. okayyyyyy
I don’t like the idea of the NY office, inept Blandino, and his in-house overlord Goodell having final say on a call. THIS is not a good thing any way you spin it.
Baghdad Blindino will get final say. Not an official or someone that ever was one but one of the Goodellbot’s minions. Choosing someone from that bastion of integrity at 345 Park Ave instead of an actual official is bound to make us all believe everything will be on the up and up. Yeah, this is going to go over well.
In related news the odds to win the Super Bowl for the Jets, Giants, Steelers and Colts were just cut in half.
I would prefer this for penalties as well were the refs stay as is on the field but whenever they call a penalty they say it into their mic so the guys in NY know and then the team in NY can check the replay instantly and determine if the pentalty was necessary or not. It might add an extra 10 seconds between plays with penalties but if you cut commercials it still wouldn’t be as long as a normal game and I wouldn’t have to see BS calls determine the outcome.
“Fake calls”
yea because what could go wrong there?
NOOOOOOOOOO!
-Everyone
I can’t imagine a sane, rational group of owners agreeing to this.
Bumdino… I should’ve seen this coming.
I wonder how many games a week they’ll fix.
They could technically call a PI or Holding on just about every play. But they don’t, they pick and choose… Some games are officiated properly but other games you can tell…
Just put your $$$ on the Pats until Brady retires…. Easy $$$$!
Except fans want to know what is going on and they went to all this effort to get the refs to be a little bit more “wordy” in their explanations and now the 10 million people watching won’t have a clue what is going on except the explanation of the announcers that will be slanted to whatever team they are broadcasting for. All this to save 10 seconds it takes for the ref to announce the result. Why can’t they just go ahead and spot the ball and have the teams ready so when they come back from commercial break the ref can announce the result and then go back to the game. More time is wasted in the refs getting the spot right than anything else. I don’t know how many times they have spotted the ball and announced the result, then they get back together and discuss it, then move the ball again, then discuss it some more and then move the ball again. If they did all that during the break I can see it, but to make the result of the challenge available to only the the fans in the stadium is only going to alienate fans. Leave the game alone. Shorten the commercials but then Roger, please, get your hands off the rulebook and just let the players play the friggin’ game.
A guy who was never a field ref, backed up by a guy who never played in the NFL. Integrity.
This would be a great idea IF the league had a commissioner with ANY integrity our a league office with ANY credibility. Games WILL be decided in NY now and not on the field. Owners better get in line or suffer the consequences of a crooked league
A guy who has never blown a whistle in his life, Is going to have the final say on instant replay. Thats not funny, that’s scary.
Roger the dodger “I have an idea. Fan confidence in me and the entire new york office has literally never been worse. Lets have all replay decisions made at the new york office instead of by the refs we pay to make those decisions. What could possibly go wrong? Brilliant! Raises for everyone! Me first.”
NFL = National Fixed League?
Seriously, what kind of idiot thinks that is a good idea? Is he truly trying to ruin the game?
And no explanation after the commercial break? So the average non NFL rules educated tv fan, the vast majority of fans, can just guess and speculate why the decision was made.
These two decisions combined have the potential to do an incredible amount of PR damage to the average NFL fan’s confidence in the games competitive balance without bias.
So, instead of making changes that would actually benefit the game viewing experience, like cutting back on the number of commercial breaks, this idiot is opening the door to a whole new and far easier world of corrupt NFL front office bias to certain teams.
The sweetheart teams have to love this plan. Heck, they probably were the ones that devised the plan.
Some confusions:
Will every touchdown and turnover still be reviewed?
There is only one person in the NFL officiating universe that can determine indisputable visual evidence?
What will happen if Dean is sick or on his menses on Sunday? Letting the guy who cant describe what a catch is make the final decision on replay is not the best idea.
Luckily there won’t be any Patriots/Jets reviews in the playoffs this year.
Goodell: “Now Dean, just make sure any calls involving the Patriots are resolved in favor of whoever the Patriots are playing.”
Blandino: “Well of course, sir. That goes without saying! I’ll get them for you, sir!”
And the Pats will STILL win the Super Bowl in SPITE of Roger the Snake’s meddling, and he’ll get booed big time again….
Vegas just moved the Patriots from 4-1 back to 10-1 in anticipation of Blandino doing the screw job on Brady that a four game suspension could not do.
was obvious they were already doing this.
Seems to me that when an interception occurs, the game resumes with the opposing offense on the field fairly quickly, unless something is contested (say whether the interceptor was or stepped out of bounds).
With fumbles it often takes longer to resume, unless it is an obvious fumble (such as the player with the ball has already taken several steps, is still on his feet, and nobody else was near the player that recovered the ball.)
But when a score occurs….it seems like there’s a gap of 10 minutes (yeah, I might be exaggerating, but that’s what it seems like) from when one offense is on the field until the other offense is on the field: TD score….required review/commercial break…..FG attempt…..commerical break….kickoff…… commercial break…..opposing offense resumes play.
It just shouldn’t take that long.
On a clear interception or fumble turnover, you can get up to go to the bathroom, and when you come back the offense has already scored. On offensive scores, you can make a run to the store for more beer and only miss the extra point.
by the way….in my explanation above (third paragraph) I meant Extra Point attempt, not FG attempt.
I give this 8 weeks before they decide it was a blunder to have Blindino making any calls
That will last until the first big screw-up at which point Dean will realize he can’t blame it on anybody else. Then some anonymous staffer will take over the duties so he can be suitably chastised or fired by Dean when things go wrong.
Will he be allowed to rule on cowboys games while sitting in Jerry’s party bus?
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Blandino NEVER referree’d a football game in his life! He has interpreted and reinterpreted rules to the point actual ref’s have no idea what the rule means anymore. How on earth anyone thinks this is a good idea simply baffles me. Never mind the obvious ability to affect the outcome of games from the safe combines of a cushy office in NYC, it’s just a really stupid idea. All that said I’ll continue to love and watch the NFL but my goodness they sure are making it harder and harder to do.
@josh1973
Perfect post ….right on the money and well said
TheDPR says:
Mar 23, 2017 9:12 AM
I can’t imagine a sane, rational group of owners agreeing to this.
————————————————————
The current group of owners have by deed shown themselves to be non-rational. To expect a rational decision is to simply dream at this point.
By the way, will Blandino continue to tweet mid-game to say a ruling was made incorrectly? Let that sink in for a minute.
Paging Mr Blandino. Vegas on line one.
“Dean Blandino will have final say on replay reviews”
What’s wrong with this?
1) All the evidence suggests that Blandino has an IQ roughly equivalent to a standard-size fence post.
2) You thought there were a lot of tin foil hats being worn already? This gives us conspiracy theorists reason to believe EVERY replay call will be settled based on a preferred winner by the NFL office – you know, like that VERY OBVIOUS catch Jericho Cotchery made in Super Bowl 50 that was ruled a drop, since the NFL clearly wanted Peyton Manning to win. (Yeah, Denver would have won anyway, but that call was a crime.)
3) The rule book is too jacked up. Two hands on ball + two feet in bounds = catch, except in the NFL where there also has to be “control through the process,” a 7 mph west wind, and no more than 50% cloud cover.
I need a VERY stiff drink………….
In related news the odds to win the Super Bowl for the Jets, Giants, Steelers and Colts were just cut in half.
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Nailed it.
Expect funny business against any team playing those teams you just listed.
I’d add Ravens to that list as well.
the fix is in
The Frito Blandino……..are you kidding me?!
Can we limit the referee from giving a long winded explanation of the decision too? Call it the Hochuli Rule.
Can’t wiat for him to be working 3-4 replays at once
This is good. If Blandino screws up replay, he won’t have to defend one of his refs. He can just defend himself.
At the first sign of anything suspicious – against ANY team, not just the Patriots – I’m going to completely stop watching the NFL until they put it back the way it was. Blandino is a proven snake, this smells BAD.
it needed to be centralized – 99% of the time the viewers at home have the call figured out 20 minutes before the ref comes out from under the hood.
but one guy?
only blandino?
no.
Even with all of the horrible decisions Roger has made over the years.. I think this one just rocketed to the top of the list.
Sooooo the TV audience will have no clue what is going on when they come back from commercial break?
Just curious… is the league also going to assign Dean a seeing eye dog?
The NFL does realize that there are usually more than just one game going on at once on a given Sunday right?
How does Blandino deal with multiple replay requests at once?
Won’t that slow the game down?
Each Review should be made by a group of 3 people who are not watching the games. They should be given all angles of the play and one minute to review them. They are only told what to review, but not the call made. In other words, they are told to rule if it was a catch, but not told what was ruled on the field. After that minute of review is done, they must make the decision based on the views they saw, simple majority rules.
This would be faster and less biased (not siding with the referee since they won’t know the call that was made) There can be several teams of judges, so we don’t need to worry so much about simultaneous reviews very often, and if there are several items on the same play to review, they may be able to be reviewed separately and simultaneously, again speeding the process and incorporating less bias.
Also, if the decision is made while the commercial is still on, then the decision should be displayed on the screen when they return from the commercial
Blandino, whose puppet strings are manipulated by Goodell, who is a puppet whose strings are manipulated by Rooney, Mara, Biscotti, Irsay and Johnson.
Just making it even easier to manipulate the calls the league wants in the games they want them in.
how is this guy employed?