Saturday, January 3, 2009

Instant replay is killing the NFL.

Before the reimplementation of instant replay I used to be frustrated watching NFL games. Given the frequent occurrence of incorrect calls by officials that could easily be corrected by video review, it seemed inexcusable to me that the league did not allow its officials to utilize technology. However, having continued watching football since instant replay has been reintroduced into the NFL, I must admit, I'd like the NFL to get rid of instant replay all over again. The challenge system infuriates me. It's quite possible and possibly likely that there are more than two questionable calls during the course of a game. At least the NCAA gets this aspect of instant replay right by reviewing every play while still allotting challenges to coaches to force a review. But my main complaint with instant replay is that far too often, after reviewing the play, the officials still make the wrong call. This just happened in the Indianapolis/San Diego game when a fumble prior to halftime, which was clearly a fumble, was ruled otherwise. This call prevented San Diego from having an opportunity to score again before the end of the first half and could have a significant impact on the outcome of the game - we'll know that in another hour and a half.

If the NFL wants to use instant replay to make sure that the correct calls are being made during the course of a game, then I'm all for it. But too many times instant replay is being used to make incorrect calls, which is just a waste of everyone's time.

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