The Replay's the Thing

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  Forward pass or fumble by quarterback (see my post on the Tuck Rule)

 

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 down by defensive contact.  When the officials say that the runner was “down by contact” when he lost the ball, the ball was dead when fumbled and the opposing team can’t recover it. 

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.

Turnovers: Interceptions and Fumbles

If the word “turnover” only calls to mind fruity pastries, then this post is for you.  Today we explore the ways that a team accidentally loses possession of the ball.

A turnover is when the team with the ball loses possession of the ball to the other team.  There are two types of turnovers:  the interception and the fumble.  Notice that I didn’t say “when the offense loses possession of the ball to the defense.”  There are two reasons for this:  (1) possession can occur during a special teams play when the teams are the “receiving” and “kicking” teams; and (2) there can be multiple turnovers on the same play, so that the offense initially loses the ball but then a scene from Keystone Kops ensues and the defense loses it after gaining possession!  What fun!

INTERCEPTIONS

An interception occurs when a defensive player catches a pass that was meant to be caught by a player on the offense.  There is usually not much dispute over whether an interception has occurred, unless there is a question of whether the defensive player actually caught the ball.  However, there may be a question of whether the defensive player committed a pass interference penalty in the process of catching the ball.*  As you learned in my post on challenges, a judgment by the officials over whether a penalty such as pass interference occurred is not reviewable.

One quirk on interceptions:  if both the offensive and defensive player come down with their hands on the ball so that it looks like they both have possession, the offense keeps possession of the ball at the spot where the ball was caught.  In other words, to borrow a phrase from baseball, “the tie goes to the runner.”

FUMBLES

Once a play has begun, the player that holds the ball is called the runner.  The runner can be one of three people:  (1) the quarterback, until he hands off, or throws the ball to, another player, or if he is keeping it and running down the field himself; (2) the player, usually the running back, that the quarterback hands the ball to; or (3) the player, a wide receiver or tight end, to whom the quarterback throws the ball.

A fumble occurs when the runner drops the ball before he is tackled. **  Any player can try to get the ball by diving on it or picking it up.  A fumble is “lost” if a defensive player gains control of the ball, thus earning possession for his team.  A fumble is “recovered” if a player on offense, either the runner or another player, gains control of the ball, retaining possession for his team.

Sound simple, right?  It usually is.  However, a couple of rules make the issue more complicated.  Under the rules, a runner is tackled or “down” when one or both of his knees touches the ground and he had been touched by a defensive player (in the NFL, if a player stumbles on his own, he can get back up and keep running; this is not the case in college).  Fumbles are often challenged or reviewed when there is a question of whether the runner was down before the lost the football.  If he lost the football after one of his knees hits the ground, there is no fumble. 

Another rule you will hear often is that the ground cannot cause a fumble.  It’s hard to explain what this means; it’s one of those you’ll-know-it-when-you-see-it situations.  Generally, though, if a runner is being brought down, or has fallen, there is no fumble if he held onto the ball and it is only from hitting the ground that the ball came loose and out of the player’s grip.  This is also often the subject of review.

*The standards for a catch and pass interference are the same for both the offense and the defense, and will be explained in a later post.

**I should distinguish a “fumble” from a “muff.”  A muff occurs when a player unsuccessfully tries to get possession of a loose ball.  Therefore, the player hasn’t even had the ball yet.