I Love The NFL’s New Replay Rule

When the NFL finally does end the lockout, there will be a new replay rule that will go into effect this season.

And quite frankly, I love the new rules! 

First off, let me explain the new rule to you.  It involves all scores (touchdown, field goal or safety). 

An official rules a score (touchdown, field goal, safety or extra point) during a game, the replay official in the booth will automatically review the play.  If there is any question as to whether the ruling is correct, they will buzz down to the on-field referee and ask him to come to the monitor to review the play. 

If the replay official confirms the ruling is correct, they will buzz the referee indicating he is clear to let the scoring team attempt the extra point, or kick off if the scoring play was a field goal, safety or extra-point attempt.

A coach will not be allowed to challenge the ruling of a score.  The intent is to save the coach from having to challenge the ruling of a score and, thus, increase his chances of not running out of challenges or timeouts.

I just want the calls to be correct!  We have the technology to get it right, why not use it?  Let’s not stick our heads in the sand and refuse to evolve.  I’m all for making sure the game is played fairly.  I don’t like when a team gets shafted because the refs blew a call in the game that wasn’t reviewed because one team was out of challenges at the time.

It's not going to slow down the game as much as you think.

I’d rather have a game that gets the calls correctly than one that “flows” better but has incorrect calls.  It’s not that big of a deal. Perhaps it will add 5 minutes to a game – tops.  These plays will be reviewed in 25 seconds. Think about it, most TD’s are cut and dry. It won’t be an issue with those.

This might lead to one or two more plays a game that will be reviewed. Some games won’t have any major replay reviews.  Is that such a bad thing to get it right?

After a TD, while the players are celebrating and the special teams replace the offense and defense for the extra point, the replay will have been reviewed and approved. There’s at least 30-40 seconds between an actual TD and the extra point being attempted.  Perhaps this will add 20-30 seconds to that.

This new replay rule will make the coaches more liberal with their challenges.  That first quarter fumble that had no chance of being challenged in the past will now get challenged by a coach.  So no one can ever say, “If he only would have challenged that call early in the game…”

The coaches will now be able to use their challenges on other plays without having to save them for the 4th quarter or 2nd half.