Amazing, isn't it? Forty-four years after Mike Renfro, the NFL still can't get the simple things right. Like whether a critical pass in a conference championship game hit the ground (which it very clearly did).
This is a rinse-and-repeat commentary, by the way. Almost every playoff year, the NFL embarrasses itself on the officiating front — and I don't necessarily blame the on-field officials.
The rule book is bigger than the national deficit. The players are larger and faster than ever. Plays happen at a million miles per hour. There is so much to process, so much to track. No human could be expected to properly officiate a game on the field.
So give them more help in the booth.
Actually, they already have help in the booth. The "Sky Judge" already is a thing — a haphazard, largely ineffective thing, but a thing nonetheless.
But let's go back before we go forward. Renfro's non-touchdown catch against the Steelers in the 1979 AFC championship — ruled out of bounds even though replays appeared to show he was in — launched replay review. At the least, the NFL's new toy was supposed to correct horrendous errors.
It instead became Frankenstein, a monster that could not perform even simple tasks consistently. Blatantly obvious, championship-game-altering mistakes still go uncorrected way too often. And for no good reason.
Last year, those mistakes marred Super Bowl Sunday. This year, well, you all watched the horrible officiating all day Sunday in the conference championships, right?
The first travesty in last year's Super Bowl occurred when Bengals receiver Tee Higgins practically ripped the face mask off Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey, rendering him blind on a 75-yard touchdown. All 112.3 million viewers saw it. The officials did not. OK, fine. It happens. But there was no mechanism by which to correct the error? In the Super Bowl?
Apparently not. The excuse was that such plays are "not subject to review," 43 years after Renfro.
Later, on the dramatic winning drive, the Rams lined up 3rd-and-goal from the Bengals 8, trailing 20-16, and four Rams linemen clearly jumped the snap. All but the center. Nothing was called. It reminded me of a Steelers-Chargers game from 2018, when a Chargers offensive lineman jumped the snap by roughly an hour, a touchdown pass ensued, and there was no flag — and apparently no way to correct the error (how line calls like that are not reviewable is beyond me).
All that did was heavily contribute to a 33-30 Steelers loss and them missing the playoffs by a game. No big deal.
Now fast forward to this past Sunday's NFC championship game. First drive. Eagles line up 4th-and-3 at the 49ers 35 and take a daring shot down the field. DeVonta Smith appears to make an amazing catch. Replays later show the ball hit the ground. 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan erred by not even attempting to delay the action while his people got a better view (he could have pulled the challenge flag out and postured, as coaches do), but it was really the league that looked bad.
All that play did was change the entire game. What if the 49ers take possession there, instead of the Eagles marching in for an undeserved touchdown? Does 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy still get injured? Do the 49ers grab an early lead instead of the other way around?
How are 30 million of us sitting here 44 years after Mike Renfro watching a game-transforming, incomplete pass stand in a conference championship?
ESPN's Kevin Seifert tweeted about the play real time and could not have been more accurate:
"Yes, the 49ers could have challenged ... but the NFL's replay assist rule also allows the replay official to make a quick reversal without a challenge. They have all the camera angles in the booth and don't need to wait for TV to broadcast it."
I bet that's news to some of you: The NFL already has a "Sky Judge." One who apparently went to grab a beer on Smith's non-catch.
More Siefert: "FOX's Kevin Burkhardt said on the broadcast, per (officiating expert) Mike Pereira, there wasn't enough time to see the clear video of DeVonta Smith's catch/no-catch before the next snap. That's despite the NFL having Hawk-eye technology that feeds all angles virtually immediately to the booth."
What is going on here?
Could somebody please step in?
The obvious solution is to allow the Sky Judge to rule on catch/no catch and line plays and to make all other calls/non-calls able to be challenged. Bill Belichick has been arguing this for years.
In other words, if Bengals coach Zac Taylor had any challenges left, he could have challenged that Trey Hendrickson was held on the key play in the AFC championship (late hit on Patrick Mahomes). The game rightfully would have gone to overtime.
For time purposes, coaches would still be limited on challenges, so we'd have to live with some missed calls on holding, interference, blocks in the back, etc. But at least we'd get the line calls, catches and fumbles mostly right. And likely avoid the most glaring errors of all.
Like whether a critical pass in a conference championship game hit the ground (which it very clearly did).
