New England at Pittsburgh (1 Viewer)

[wilked]

The big consequence of altering the 'control to the ground' rule is if you remove it, fumbles will go up (catch and a fumble caused by the ground).  I am not saying if it is right or wrong, but that will be one immediate consequence

 

[Godsbrother]

The big consequence of altering the 'control to the ground' rule is if you remove it, fumbles will go up (catch and a fumble caused by the ground).  I am not saying if it is right or wrong, but that will be one immediate consequence

Probably but in most of these occasions where a catch appears to be made the receiver still has the ball so it wouldn't make a difference anyway.

I am wondering if maybe the problem is with the IR rule itself.  The idea was to eliminate obvious blown calls and I think it has swung the other way.  Maybe the replay official should get 60 seconds to look at the play from various angles but all reviews must be in real-time.  If you can't spot it from that then the play stands as called.

 

[Bayhawks]

Probably but in most of these occasions where a catch appears to be made the receiver still has the ball so it wouldn't make a difference anyway.

I am wondering if maybe the problem is with the IR rule itself.  The idea was to eliminate obvious blown calls and I think it has swung the other way.  Maybe the replay official should get 60 seconds to look at the play from various angles but all reviews must be in real-time.  If you can't spot it from that then the play stands as called.

I don’t have a problem with that idea, and I’m not trying to pick an i-fight, but would you feel the same way if the original ruling had been an incomplete pass?  I think you believe it should have been a completion & TD (as do I), but the rule is flawed & led to the incomplete call.  If the original call had been incomplete, & they upheld it, would you still think limiting the replay time is a good fix?

 

[Godsbrother]

I don’t have a problem with that idea, and I’m not trying to pick an i-fight, but would you feel the same way if the original ruling had been an incomplete pass?  I think you believe it should have been a completion & TD (as do I), but the rule is flawed & led to the incomplete call.  If the original call had been incomplete, & they upheld it, would you still think limiting the replay time is a good fix?

It is easy for me to say after the fact but yes I am okay with that.   I think the speed up of the game would more than make up for the few incorrect calls overturned only because they were analyzed step-by-step replays.

I am an old fart and realize I am probably in minority but I think the NFL was better before replay reviews.

 

[Bayhawks]

It is easy for me to say after the fact but yes I am okay with that.   I think the speed up of the game would more than make up for the few incorrect calls overturned only because they were analyzed step-by-step replays.

I am an old fart and realize I am probably in minority but I think the NFL was better before replay reviews.

I agree with your premise.  The James play took a long time to review.  It stands to reason that they weren’t able to quickly see that it should be overturned.  Meaning they probably wouldn’t have been able to quickly overturn an incomplete on-the-field call.  In which case, the wrong call (in my mind, not by the rule) would still have been made.

The point being that a time limit in replays wouldn’t necessarily prevent these types of controversies.

 

[Godsbrother]

I agree with your premise.  The James play took a long time to review.  It stands to reason that they weren’t able to quickly see that it should be overturned.  Meaning they probably wouldn’t have been able to quickly overturn an incomplete on-the-field call.  In which case, the wrong call (in my mind, not by the rule) would still have been made.

The point being that a time limit in replays wouldn’t necessarily prevent these types of controversies.

You are right -- fans would still be able to say after the fact that the wrong call was made but at least it would be understood the replay officials had a limited amount of time to review and did not have the benefit of slow motion or stop motion to make the call.  It would also have the happy benefit of speeding up the game. 

Of course at this point the genie is out of the bottle and it is hard to imagine the league not using slow motion in a review when it is being shown to the fans. 

I think the best thing is to review the rules once again and see if there is anything they can do to modify them to make a catch like the one on Sunday night stand.