John Elway: Reviewing pass interference “won’t work”

Posted by Darin Gantt on January 22, 2019, 4:48 PM EST
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Because the Saints just got jobbed out of a trip to the Super Bowl because of a missed pass interference call, and because we have 12 more days to fill until then, there will be plenty of talk about the feasibility of using replay review to fix an obvious problem for the NFL.

While other leagues are able to find a solution without lengthening their games, there remains a resistance to opening that particular box for fear that Pandora and all her meddling friends will wreck the game.

According to Lindsay Jones of The Athletic, Broncos executive John Elway (a member of the league’s competition committee) is among the skeptics.

“You can’t replay every pass interference,” Elway said. “It won’t work.”

Replaying and reviewing every pass interference call probably wouldn’t. Giving coaches the opportunity to challenge selected calls to make sure a game isn’t decided incorrectly could probably be worked out without tearing at the very fabric of the game.

But the inertia of the way things are will make it hard to find a solution to this problem, as some may not be inclined to fiddle with the rulebook, if only for the fear of making things worse.

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47 responses to “John Elway: Reviewing pass interference “won’t work””

  4. The real solution is to change the rules regarding pass interference AND illegal contact. Do away with both as fouls. If a receiver is knocked on his butt going out for a pass before OR after the ball is thrown, then that receiver WAS NOT OPEN to receive said pass. End of story. Yes, of course it would give a defense much additional advantage in some cases…but give it some thought if you don’t agree. It would make the game much more interesting. Right now, it’s mostly just pass and catch. And pass interference calls change the outcome of far too many games over the course of a season.

  5. He is so dumb. I am convinced he never graduated from Stanford and was their first fake famous athlete grad.

    You would be LIMITED in how many times you can challenge it. It would be like 1 challenge for PI per game or something.

    How is this bozo still employed anyway? They’ll never fire him, but opening a checkbook and going on a spree, is something anyone can do.

  6. What a surprise… Elway is a stodgy old man that doesn’t want to adjust with the times?

    They don’t need to add extra challenges; let coaches use their current challenges to PI (and everything else)

  10. Add a call to the list. A Review Flag. On a bang bang like the one we just saw, where there’s clear and serious contact throw a Review Flag. Let the booth make the call and the same angles they see would be on the big screen. Yes, it takes the ref off the hook but they’d be more likely to ask for help on a huge play like that. We can work out the minutia later but isn’t it time we made this tech work to improve the game? We know that humans on the field are limited. Every expert here has said so much.

  11. I really don’t get what the problem with everyone is.

    Make every play reviewable by challenge and do not increase the number of challenges. Also allow challenges in the last 2 min in addition to official reviews. The replay rule already indicates clear and obvious evidence is needed. In the case of the play in the rams game it was clear and obvious that he was hit before even attempting to catch the ball and it was clearly helmet to helmet. So review and call a penalty.

    Conversely, if a PI was called on the field and replay clearly shows they were not touched at all or the ball was tipped then reverse it.

    It fixes all the stupid rules on what can or cannot be challenged.

  14. Coaches should be able to challenge any two pays a quarter, if you win the challenge than it becomes three .Belicheat proposed this. I am a LA Rams fan by the way, but when you get the ball in OT, don’t throw an INT!

  15. This might sound stupid but what if in the last 2 minutes of regular season games and maybe 5 minutes of playoff games, a referee not working the game is in the booth and able to overturn any horrible call like the missed call in New Orleans. Nothing ticky tacky but at least give the league an option to avoid something so bad deciding a game. It would hardly ever be needed but at least they have that to avoid something like Sunday.

  16. When Atlantic City refunds betters, as they did…it’s pretty bad. Anyone who doesn’t think what happened in New Orleans is incomprehensible isn’t truly a fan of the game. Process that for a moment…major betting organizations throughout one of the biggest gambling towns in the country REFUNDED betters because the organization wasn’t comfortable, in good faith, with the validity of the outcome of the game.

    Gonna tell me I’m off the mark? The NFL is a disgrace.

  17. I think the NFL should contact google or Amazon or who ever runs the world now to create an artificial intelligence program to ref the game. Let’s face it it would take NE a few years to figure out how to hack into the system so that will give other teams a few years to win and the league couldn’t hand a city a franchise that over the years could care less about football and give them a Superbowl team in an attempt to turn them into a football city.

  18. It might not work all of the time but it would be more effective in cases like the one yesterday. The ref thought the ball was tipped but replay shows it was not tipped. The ball was in a tight spiral. Stuff your thoughts in a sack, Mr. Elway.

  19. Then you will have people complain when they review PI on a Hail Mary and get the ball in the 1 yard line leave it alone , use the college system booth review when necessary and if you want an Ot solution if the first team scores a td then you have to go for two if you score the following drive

  20. Like the one the Saints had on the drive the Rams settled for 3? Bottom line is the Saints haven’t played well since mid December. The struggled the week before against a Philly team they clocked earlier in the year.

  21. How is John Elway on the competition committee? He can’t even get the qb situation right in Denver let alone being on the competitive committee. Does he even know what PI is?

  24. Like the change in a catch that everyone wanted for years, there will be all sorts of collateral damage from this if there is a big change. Make it possibly a coaches challenge, but don’t make it an auto review.

    In reality, the biggest change has to come on the fields, where 55 & over community members are trying to run around & watch/ breakdown/ implement rules at break neck speeds with people who are moving 25x faster than they are in a million different directions.

    That’s the product on the field that needs to get better… not the guy in front of a 4k tv with microzoom & super, duper, insanely slow moving, screen by screen images in NYC.
    (Maybe this is why E-Gaming is getting so popular, along with health risk just being carpel tunnel. The E-refs can’t blow a call on the field)

  26. How bout we just have 40 cameras focused on every play with flag guns on both sides of the field and have the cameras signal to the flag guns to shoot out a flag for every infraction. Almost nothing would ever be missed.

  28. Why not have Skybox Referees with direct access to one referee on the Ground.If he see something that the Referees miss call it in and change it.The eyes in the Sky

  29. Can’t un-ring the bell, I get it. Doesn’t change the fact that the NFL is sending the wrong team to the super bowl. That’s their product this season. Sending the wrong team to the biggest stage because they rigged the championship game. Hate to say that but the optics are what they are…and the longer the league stays silent, the worse this will get. It’s not going away no matter how much they want it to.

  30. Why not have Skybox Referees with the latest technology to view the Game and also with direct access to one referee on the Ground.If he see something that the Referees miss call it in and change it.The eyes in the Sky

  31. There’s probably some type of pass interference on every passing play. How about you are able to use your two challenges on anything you want for them to review and not make this so complicated

  32. “I’d like to know why he thinks that.”
    ________________

    I think anybody who has paid any attention to how the NFL handles replay knows it’s a bad idea. They’ll inevitably create brand new controversies by overruling close calls. There’ll be far more iffy overrules than fixes of outright travesties so in the long run it will do more harm than good. The absolute WORST thing that can happen isn’t an initial call being blown live on the field–that’s bad but most people get that sometimes stuff is missed. The worst thing that can happen is when the review call is equally questionable to the original call. That fuels conspiracy theories and reinforces the notion that the entire system is either incompetent or rigged.

  33. Pass interference can be a 50-yard penalty but we’re not interested in making sure the call was correct? How many games have been won or lost because of a controversial pass interference call? I can think of one recent one.

  34. boiseststewhodat says:

    No…they did not pay the winners. Look it up. Atlantic City refunded bettors.
    …………………………………………………..

    All winners were paid, and zero “refunds” were administered. Players with wagers on either the Saints or the Over were issued “credits” in the amount of their original wager to make on any future bets. But, hey, why let facts get in the way of your drama.

  35. spencerhsite says:
    January 22, 2019 at 4:57 pm

    The real solution is to change the rules regarding pass interference AND illegal contact. Do away with both as fouls. If a receiver is knocked on his butt going out for a pass before OR after the ball is thrown, then that receiver WAS NOT OPEN to receive said pass. End of story. Yes, of course it would give a defense much additional advantage in some cases…but give it some thought if you don’t agree. It would make the game much more interesting. Right now, it’s mostly just pass and catch. And pass interference calls change the outcome of far too many games over the course of a season.
    __________

    I don’t think it would be interesting to see the receiver mugged by a DB every time a ball is thrown his way. I think it’s exciting to see a receiver make a great catch when he’s covered closely. Would you really prefer to see the receiver tackled before the ball gets there every time the defender is close enough to do it?

  36. The best solution is to hire full time professional referee’s. Ones that are practicing and studying year around, as much as the players do. Also put an age limit on them as you can’t have 60 year old men that no longer see or react as well as they once did. That would help alleviate a lot of the problems they now have!

  37. “…without tearing at the very fabric of the game.”

    that fabric was ripped long ago, the sport can not be repaired because it is nothing but entertainment now, has little to do with the actual athletic competition itself anymore

  38. How about just hiring competent officials and having some accountability for blown calls ? It’s not like this is unusual. The NFL is the worst officiated sport on the planet. Inconsistent, arbitrary and subjective. Poor officiating has made the sport barely watchable. They cut players for poor performance, they fire coaches for bad won/loss records, yet nothing happens to these clowns that blow calls weekly. Why ?

  40. It’s a sham when Canada has better rules for football than the NFL. I’m tired of this WWE style football. We need better calls to ensure the rightful winner is going to the Super Bowl.

  41. So don’t change anything else just include pass interference or lack of as a play that can be challenged. Don’t give them more challenges just add that to list if they use all of them up too bad.

  43. Source : the ONLY way to deal with OT is : JUST ANOTHER 15 minute quarter – from start to finish
    College OT sucks – most of college sucks – ridiculous matchup until the final 3 games of the season – don’t use something that already sucks as a measuring stick

  46. If the NFL had a replay official that informs the refs of missed calls it’d setup a system that can easily rig games with questionable calls. I like the idea of giving coaches the option of challenging the call/no call. And increase challenges to 2 in each half with the bonus 3rd if you get both right.

  47. John Morris says:
    January 22, 2019 at 6:29 pm
    How about just hiring competent officials and having some accountability for blown calls ? It’s not like this is unusual. The NFL is the worst officiated sport on the planet. Inconsistent, arbitrary and subjective. Poor officiating has made the sport barely watchable. They cut players for poor performance, they fire coaches for bad won/loss records, yet nothing happens to these clowns that blow calls weekly. Why ?

    ===================================

    gotta disagree with you on this. the NBA has by far the worst officiating of all 4 major sports. its accepted by NBA fans that the home team gets more foul calls in their favor than the road team. they have also had a ref get caught cheating already. also MLB is very subjective. just ask justin verlander. i love the sox but verlander got hosed in that ALCS game on that strike 3 pitch thats called a ball and the next pitch the batter went yard. the nfl needs work but is is also one of the hardest games to officiate and get right constantly. i will say that as much as you guys all dislike bill belichick, he has been an advocate for being able to review anything for many years now. he even presented it to the competition committee 2 separate times.

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