In recent years, it has often been confusing for the average NFL fan to know which calls and plays can be reviewed. Fortunately, the NFL has made moves to make this process more straight forward.
On Tuesday at the Spring League Meetings in Charlotte, N.C., the NFL decided to put a little more faith in technology. The rules involving instant reply has been reorganized and they have cleared up which plays can and cannot be challenged. They have also added in new rules in regards to game administration. While the changes aren’t too extreme, these rules are helping to avoid any administrative mistakes when it comes to penalty enforcement, proper down, spot of a foul and status of the game clock.
The list of the new rules include:
- Plays involving possession.
- Plays involving touching of either the ball or the ground.
- Plays governed by the goal line.
- Plays governed by the boundary lines.
- Plays governed by the line of scrimmage.
- Plays governed by the line to gain.
- Number of players on the field at the snap.
- Game administration: penalty enforcement, proper down, spot of a foul, status of game clock.
The reorganization of the instant replay rules should hopefully help give more clarity to the officials, coaches, players and fans. In an interview with USA Today, chairman of the NFL’s rule-making competition committee Rich McKay said, “What’s happened is there have been so many rules added over the years as situations have come up, the rulebook has become cumbersome. We’re addressing that.”
During each game, both teams will be allowed two challenges to commence the use of an instant replay review. Each challenge will use one of the team’s timeouts, which will be restored if the challenge is upheld. In addition, a challenge will also be restored if the two previous challenges were successful. The team is then limited to three challenges per game, whether or not all three were successful.
To help keep the extra time deemed for challenges minimal, the league has issued a maximum of 60 seconds for each review.
These changes may be minimal (in comparison to what some teams have previously proposed), but they are definitely a step in the right direction.