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It’s been over a year since the New Orleans Saints got screwed by the refs at the NFC Championship Game about as hard as Bret Hart did when he was double-crossed by Vince McMahon in Montreal in 1997 after the team fell victim to one of the most egregious no-calls in NFL history.
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Despite witnessing one of the most obvious pass interference infractions you’ll ever see, no flag was thrown on the play and the Rams subsequently got the chance to tie the game before punching their ticket to the Super Bowl with a victory in overtime.
The league subsequently found itself in the middle of a firestorm, and last March, it succumbed to pressure and instituted a new rule that allows teams to throw the challenge flag when they feel they’ve been similarly boned.
While it seemed like a smart move, the updated regulations only resulted in more controversy over the course of the last season as the referees continuously declined to overturn the original ruling on the field despite having access to video evidence that could show them just how wrong they were in slow motion.
Sean Payton suggested the problem could be fixed by tasking a three-person panel with taking a second look while Tony Dungy suggested the NFL should just scrap the rule entirely, and now, it looks like the league will reevaluate things to see if its more trouble than it’s worth.
According to The Spun, Falcons president Rich McKay says the powers that be are planning to reexamine a rule that obviously needs fixing, which could result in Payton’s suggestion being taken into consideration or Dungy’s wish being granted.
McKay said everything will be on the table with PI replay-give it another year, kill it entirely or tweak it. Members of committee made no judgment today whether they agreed with the calls on the replays they watched.
— Judy Battista (@judybattista) February 23, 2020
McKay on PI replay rule applying subjective standard to a subjective call, said owners will have to do cost-benefit analysis and decide if it is worth it.
— Judy Battista (@judybattista) February 23, 2020
According to The Washington Post, around 28% of challenges concerning uncalled pass interference were successful while coaches were only able to get their wishes granted 11% of the time when trying to get a penalty reversed.
I’m sure the NFL will be able to establish a happy medium that won’t result in any more people getting pissed off.
Not.