Football replays out of control
BY FOOTBALL’s great and needlessly diminished standards, Saturday’s RutgersArmy game, as seen on CBS SportsNet and heard on WOR and WABC Radio, had developed a nice, somewhat steady pace.
And the game’s great intrigue — would the Scarlet Knights and Black Knights both play in black uniforms? — was solved when Rutgers appeared in its former standard — established in 1869 — scarlet, thus averting confusion, if not espionage. Military punishment for wearing the enemy’s uniform is summary execution.
In the fourth quarter, on first down, Army’s Chris Carter fumbled. The ball bounced free until it was fallen on — no one else close — by teammate DeAndre Bell. Clearly, indisputably, the ball was Army’s.
But as Army came to the line, whistles. The play, we heard through the ref ’s field microphone, was “under review.” Huh? What? Why? There was nothing in dispute, no reason to unplug this game.
Eventually, “The ruling on the play stands.” What in the name of Omar Bradley had just gone on?
A bit later on ESPNU, 100 Houston, heavily favored and nationally ranked, lost at 55 UConn because UConn tackled smartly — tackled rather than allowing opponents to bounce free by trying to maim them — good play by substitutes, a flea flicker TD, and another highly dubious use of the replay rule.
Late, with UConn up 2017, Houston completed a fourthand9 pass to the far sideline for a first down. But play then was stopped cold for a replay review to see if the receiver had been out of bounds.
It was close, but given the standard to reverse a call — to change the game — is “conclusive evidence,” there was none. To change the call would be a matter of opinion, a guess by someone other than the nearest onfield official.
And after a long wait, word came the call — the game —was being reversed; receiver was out of bounds, the ball now belonged to UConn.
Sunday, CBS’ exNFL refinresidence, Mike Carey, disagreed with the Texans’ replaychallenge decision that upheld the call Jets WR Eric Decker had made a 25yard catch. “Getting it right” is that subjective.
Again: Is this what you had in mind when you demanded replay reviews? A few horrible calls had led to the populist fan, media and ruling class cry for replay — no foresight needed or considered.
And now the still misnamed “instant” replay rule is overwhelmingly applied to inspect microscopic “looks totally differentfromthisangle” evidence to adjudicate — that is, random justice — calls that never much bothered us one way or the other.
ExNFL officials boss Mike Pereira, who now shrugs about replay stops and decisions for FOX, tells how the late George Young, following his reign as Giants general manager, headed the NFL’s competition committee. Young kept replay rule additions, corrections, modifications, qualifications, disqualifications, interpretations and hallucinations in a swelling file he had marked, “The Monster Grows!”
And as Pereira concluded, the monster remains at large: “It’s too late now.”