As the league continues to expand their technology where do they draw the line?
In recent years the Los Angeles Rams have been at the center of some contreversal moments that have called into question the expansion of replay assist in the league. The most recent one happened just this last year on a Thursday game against the Minnesota Vikings when Sam Darnold’s facemask was nearly torn off by Byron Young in the end zone which resulted in a safety and the end of the game.
How was this not a facemask call on Sam Darnold?! Just lost them the game pic.twitter.com/3yP7b1qC1a
— cade (@CadeBuffalow) October 25, 2024
The biggest controversial no-call was of course against the New Orleans Saints in 2019’s NFC Championship game where Nickell Robey-Coleman ended up tackling TommyLee Lewis before the ball made it to the receiver deep in the red zone.
Two years ago today, one of the worst no calls in NFL history occurred in the NFC Championship between the Saints and the Rams after Nickell Robey-Coleman hit TommyLee Lewis early and didn’t get flagged for pass interference. The Rams went on to win in overtime 26-23 pic.twitter.com/LhLE8SWwio
— Kendall (@_kendallrjones_) January 20, 2021
The latter caused a rule change that made pass interference a challengeable call in 2020 but the change would only last a season.
Tom Pelissero reported on the Rich Eisen Show that the league would likely continue to expand the use of assisted replay in 2025.
“The other rule change that’s going to be interesting and I would think that this would have a pretty strong possibility of passing is going to be expanding the replay assist to cover more objective elements of plays… It’s only going to cover, under this proposal, when a flag has been put down on the field. It will not involve things like Sam Darnold goes full exorcist and gets his head ripped off against the Rams,” explained Pelissero.
But what do you think of the possibility of expanding replay assist? Do you think it will be good for the game or do you prefer the human element when it comes to penalties? When is enough enough?
Personally, I think it could be good for the game as long as they are using it to fix the penalties called incorrectly and not creating penalties that were never called in the first place. The moment the league lets slow-motion cameras jurisdict the game and takeover an officials job it’s gone too far.