A turning point of the season for the Los Angeles Rams was the Week 16 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. In that game, the Rams led 30-14 with under 10-minutes to play. As the Rams led 30-22, the Seahawks scored a touchdown and initially failed a two-point conversion after an incomplete pass from Sam Darnold. Following a long discussion and review, the play was overturned and called a fumble recovered for a touchdown by Zach Charbonnet.
After further reporting by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, the process for how that got overturned is extremely questionable and further puts the NFL’s review process and replay system under further scrutiny. According to Florio, the league office only because aware that the call may be incorrect when Amazon Prime Video rules analyst Terry McAulay called NFL officiating and rules analyst Walt Anderson to discuss the play. The report from Florio suggests that the call from McAulay to Anderson prompted the review. Said Florio:
“We’re told, reliably and by three sources, that the league office became aware of the wrinkle when Prime Video rules analyst Terry McAulay called Anderson to discuss the play. The implication is clear. Without that phone call from McAulay, the review process wouldn’t have been activated. The two points wouldn’t have been awarded.”
Again, this puts the NFL’s review system and the consistency of how it is utilized under further scrutiny. There doesn’t seem to be a defined system for when replay assist is used and the NFL is losing trust from fans because of it. As I wrote after the game,
“The NFL has also reached an officiating crisis and trust issue with fans and sports gambling doesn’t help matters. Over the past two years, there has been a lack of clarity on when officials are able to utilize the ‘eye in the sky’ review system. It seems to be selectively applied and is rarely consistent. At the end of the day, the right call was made, but there needs to be a standard process for how we get there.”
An argument can be made whether or not the correct call was made. The rule states, “When an on-field ruling is incomplete, and the passer clearly fumbled the ball, the ball will be awarded at the spot of recovery to the team that recovers the ball in the immediate continuing action.” It can be debated whether or not Charbonnet picked up the ball in “the immediate continuing action.”
The bigger issue at play here is that a rules analyst on a broadcast made a call to the league office which seemed to prompt a review 100 seconds after the play ended and after the two teams were preparing for the next kickoff. What made that play different to get McAulay to call the league office versus Justin Dedich being called for an illegal man downfield penalty that took away a Rams touchdown in the first quarter? There are serious issues if the rules analyst for the TV broadcast is not only interfering with what’s happening on the field, but that the league office is actively listening.
This isn’t to say that the Rams would have beaten the Seahawks in Week 16 had the call stood. The Rams may have lost 31-30 in regulation instead of 38-37 in overtime. There were still over six minutes to play in the game. At the same time, the Seahawks didn’t gain a single first down during the rest of regulation.
That call had serious implications during that game and for the rest of the Rams’ season. The Rams ended up losing the NFC’s No. 1 seed and the division because of that game. Even if the Rams lose to the Atlanta Falcons the following week, if the Rams beat the Arizona Cardinals in Week 18, they still would have won the NFC West with both teams tied at 13-4. That would have put the NFC Championship game at SoFi Stadium and the Rams would not have had to make three consecutive road trips. They would have gotten a bye week that would have been a major benefit.
Again, it can be argued whether or not the right call was made. The issue isn’t that the right call was made, but rather how we got there. If a review was prompted because the NFL rule analyst on the broadcast made a call to the league, that is a serious issue. Tom Brady, Greg Olsen, and Troy Aikman aren’t calling down to the sidelines to let coaches know what coverages and tendencies they are seeing from the booth. If McAulay wants to be part of the broadcast, he needs to be an addition to the broadcast. However, if he wants to be part of the review process and help the league, he needs to work for the league. A line was crossed.
During Super Bowl week, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell praised on-field officials for their real-time accuracy. However, the NFL is clearly at a crisis point when it comes to officiation and if they don’t see it, that’s an entirely different conversation. What’s done is done and it can’t be changed, but there will be serious questions about the NFL’s review process and the role of the broadcast rules analyst going forward.
