The news that NFL V.P. of Officiating Dean Blandino will communicate with the referee during playoff games has led to questions about just how much involvement the league office will have in micromanaging the games. But Blandino says his role will be limited to administrative issues, and he won’t have any hand in the calling of penalties.
Blandino said in his weekly officiating video that he won’t have any say over the calling of penalties during games.
“This does not involve penalties,” Blandino said. “This does not involve the initiating of a flag or picking up a flag. When there’s a conference on the field, we in New York will not be part of that conference. We will not be listening in, talking to the officials. This is strictly a safety net in the isolated instance that there’s an issue with the administration of the game. It’s just using the technology to have one more resource to get it right. That’s the goal of this. It will not involve penalties and it will not involve communicating with the referee after every play, after penalties are called.”
It makes sense that the referee won’t have Blandino looking over his shoulder and contacting him every time Blandino saw a holding penalty that wasn’t called. However, it’s fair to ask whether Blandino will truly remain silent if there’s a game-changing penalty that the officials miss. For instance, at the end of the Jaguars-Ravens game in November, the officials missed a penalty on the Jaguars that should have resulted in a 10-second runoff that ended the game. Instead, the Jaguars were given one last play, and they kicked the game-winning field goal on that play.
If the same thing happens in a playoff game, will Blandino stay silent? Or will he get on the horn with the referee and tell him what he missed? Which is more important, following proper officiating protocol, or seeing to it that a bad call doesn’t change the outcome of a game?
That’s a question Blandino hopes he doesn’t face this postseason. But it’s a question that he’d better be ready to answer.