As you have no doubt noticed, the NFL’s replay system can be
confusing. Not only has the system
undergone some significant changes in the last couple of years, but coaches and
officials can still foul up the procedures for requesting and conducting replays.
Aside from these administrative issues,
though, it can be hard just to keep track of the types of calls that can be
reviewed at all. So, to get you ready
for another week of games, I thought I’d set out in one place two categories of
plays and rulings: those that can be
reviewed, and those that can’t.
Since you won’t always have this page handy when you’re
watching a game, I’ve tried to distill the items below into a few general
rules, or what I call “Replayisms”:
1. Pretty
much any play that occurred in the end zone can be reviewed.
2. If change
in possession is riding on a call, it can be reviewed.
3. Rulings
involving the administration of the game cannot be reviewed.
4. Whether a
penalty should or shouldn’t have been called cannot be reviewed (there
are very few exceptions to this, and they are listed below).
5. Scoring
plays and turnovers are, by rule, automatically reviewed by off-field
officials, who may require the referee to review them.
PLAYS THAT CAN BE
REVIEWED:
· Scoring plays (off course, we know that these
are all automatically reviewed), including whether a pass was caught and if the
runner (i.e., the player with the ball) broke the plane of the goal line
· Whether a pass was complete, incomplete or
intercepted in the end zone, at the goal line or at a boundary line
· Elements of a passing play:
o Whether the pass was complete (or intercepted)
o Whether the pass was caught in or out of bounds
o Touching of a forward pass by an ineligible
receiver
o Touching of a forward pass by a defensive player
o Illegal forward pass beyond the line of
scrimmage or after a change in possession
o Whether a pass was a forward or backward pass
· Whether the runner stayed in bounds, or the spot
of the ball when the player went out of bounds
· Recovery of a loose ball in or out of bounds
· As you know, plays ruled turnovers are
automatically reviewed and coaches aren’t allowed to challenge them. However, a team that thought it had recovered
a fumble can make a challenge when the officials ruled that the ball was dead
when the runner lost it (meaning “no fumble”).
For example:
o The runner was ruled out of bounds when the
turnover occurred
o If a player fumbles after catching a pass, but
the officials ruled that the pass was incomplete
o The officials ruled that either the player or
the loose ball was out of bounds
· Forward progress, only with respect to a first down
determination or at the goal line
· Touching of a kick
· Where the ball passed or touched any part of the
goal post on field goals or extra point attempts, except when the call is that it
passed between the outer edges of the uprights (click here for a recent example of
this exception)
· The number of players on the field at the snap
· Whether there was an illegal forward handoff
· When a loose ball strikes any object, such as a
guide wire, video camera or video board
PLAYS THAT CANNOT
BE REVIEWED:
· Runner ruled down by contact when no fumble
occurs (this impacts the spot of the ball for the next play)
· Recovery of a loose ball that does not
involve the end zone or a boundary line
· Administrative rulings, such as:
o
Status of the game clock
o
Proper down
o
Penalty administration
· Forward progress not related to the goal
line or first down
· Field goal or extra point attempts where the bar
crosses above either upright
· Inadvertent Whistles (this is a controversial
and complicated issue that merited a post of its own)
I hope this helps you as we head into another weekend of NFL
football. And remember the standard for
reversing a call: the replays must
provide the referee with “indisputable visual evidence” that the ruling on the
field was made in error.
