Monday, October 18, 2010

How About Replay for Penalties in the NFL?

We have already established that the Referees sometimes need help when it comes to calling the game. We have adopted instant replay so that we can challenge a Referee's ruling on a pass completion, the placement of the ball, or aspects of the game.  With the recent rash of 'bad calls' by referees and the effect these calls have on a game, maybe we should institute instant replay on the penalties called by the Referees.  Take into consideration two calls from the Houston - Kansas City game this past weekend.  The Illegal Procedures call when the replay clearly showed that the offensive line was responding to defenders in the neutral zone.  And the infamous bad call on Flowers, where the Johnson was seen pushing off of Flowers, and the referee called Flowers for the pass interference instead of Johnson.  Two penalties that changed the course of the game and there was no way that anyone could challenge the call of the Referee.

Just two examples from a game this last weekend.  But there have been numerous bad calls this season alone, calls that people have called controversial, that people have stated changed the outcome of a game.  We have replay to insure that the game is called correctly, how about for penalties to keep mistakes from changing the game there?  Currently, we are not even told if a play is reviewed and the referee is found to have screwed up the call.

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