The “clear and obvious” standard for replay review continues to be anything but.
Two weeks after the league office utilized the pipeline to the various game sites to overturn a touchdown catch by Bears tight end Zach Miller without clear and obvious evidence that the ruling on the field was correct, the league office overturned a fumble recovered and returned by Jaguars safety Tashaun Gipson for a touchdown without (wait for it) clear and obvious evidence that the ruling on the field was incorrect.
Watch every available TV angle. There’s nothing that clearly and plainly shows that Gipson was touched by a member of the Chargers offense while on the ground recovering the loose ball and before getting up to take it to the end zone for what would have given Jacksonville a late lead.
The Jaguars eventually won the game in overtime, but maybe the game wouldn’t have gone to overtime if the ruling on the field was upheld, as it should have been. Besides, the point isn’t whether the failure to apply a bright-line standard in a consistent way prolonged Sunday’s game between the Chargers and Jaguars but whether (or when) it’s going to happen again in a way that decides a key regular-season game, a playoff game, or maybe even the Super Bowl.