It’s known by different names, multiple of which are used by the league. Expedited review is more common. Replay assist is the term that was utilized in a tweet posted today by the NFL Officiating account.
“The NFL expanded its replay rule to allow replay officials to assist on-field officials in specific, limited game situations to prevent game stoppages and improve accuracy of calls,” the league proclaimed.
The tweet included a graphic touting that “replay assist” prevented 254 stoppages in the 2021-22 season, with half being booth reviews that were prevented and the other half being coach’s challenges that were avoided. (The tweet does not contain statistics for 2022-23.)
The post includes a link to an article regarding the 2021 expansion of replay assist to encompass issues like whether a catch was made, or whether a touchdown was scored. The total permissible categories for expedited review without a challenge are: Penalty enforcement; confirmation of the proper down; spot of a foul; game clock administration; possession of a loose ball; complete or incomplete pass; loose ball touching a boundary line, goal line, or end line; location of the football or a player in relation to a boundary line, line of scrimmage, line to gain, or goal line; and player down by contact (when not ruled down on the field).
The numbers are impressive, but they obscure questions raised earlier this week about the transparency and consistency of expedited review. Three specific instances from the conference championships prove that: (1) the DeVonta Smith non-catch, which wasn’t caught by replay assist (even though the league has access to all replay angles); (2) Patrick Mahomes throwing the ball after his shin was down, which was fixed by replay assist; and (3) the Marquez Valdes-Scantling reach with the ball for a first down, which was overturned by a coach’s challenge, but ignored by replay review.
The biggest problem comes from the inconsistency. Sometimes it’s used, sometimes it isn’t. If a ruling on the field was so clearly and obviously wrong that replay review later overturns it, it should have been overturned by expedited review.
Basically, the league has opened a can of worms with replay assist. It’s fixing some calls, but not others. It should be fixing all, or it should be fixing none. Anything else introduces the potential for the kind of inconsistency that makes people think games are rigged, even if they aren’t.