IT WAS AN INCOMPLETE PASS!!!!

I have to say, I am disgusted with the NFL officiating this year. The entire year has been about as bad as before they implemented Instant Replay. And to cap things off, the ending of the Super Bowl was probably the most controversial play of all. Not to mention, all fans of the NFL were deprived of seeing the most exciting play in football, the Hail Mary, to end the Super Bowl!!!!

Just how bad was the officiating this year? Well, an NFL official has publicly apologized for making the wrong call twice. Once was the infamous Jay Cutler “incomplete pass,” which I blogged about earlier in the year. The other, while not being as controversial, was the Tomlinson “forward pass” that happened at the end of that fantastic Chargers-Steelers game, and resulted in a devastating loss for my fantasy team. There was also the Santonio Holmes catch against Baltimore, which I am still skeptical as to if the ball actually crossed the plane. Lastly, a little closer to home, there was the Leigh Bodden “pass interference” call against the Minnesota Vikings, which cost the Lions their only win of the season.

And now, to cap off a year of lackluster and potentially game changing officiating, the refs blew two calls in the last minute of the Super Bowl. The first was the Santonio Holmes ball prop celebration, and the far more egregious “fumble” call.

While we could go back and forth all day about that particular call, I will begin by simply displaying the video.



Due to the piss poor camera angle, the best way to analyze is to look at Warner’s body movement before Woodley hits him. As you can see his hips and shoulders are moving forward before Woodley hits him. However, this is one of the closest fumble/incomplete pass plays I have ever seen. So, this play is one of the closest plays ever, in one of the best games of all time, and the replay official isn’t even going to take more than one look? Not even going to get another set of eyes on it? **COUGH** STEELERS FAN **COUGH COUGH**

No matter how you look at the Warner play, you have to admit it was handled poorly. Decisions like these are the difference between wins and losses, between champions and losers. After such blunders as those listed above, there has to be a change. Lucky for you, I have the solution: technology.

If football is a game of inches, technology could make it a game of nanometers.

If you know anything about microeconomics, you know that incentive will encourage innovation. The NFL has a huge incentive to fix this problem because replay isn’t enough, and they also have very deep pockets.

So, what am I proposing exactly? Just a complete revolution! The NFL already relies on computers and technology with video replay, using more technology and more advanced technology is just the next logical step towards the goal of a perfectly officiated game.

Any change in the review system has to be a balance of four things: (1) increase objectivity, (2) maintaining quick game pace, (3) decrease mistakes, and (4) maintain the tradition and sanctity of the game.

My first suggestion is to have a goal line invisible fence. Such a fence would probably use similar laser technology to those already widely implemented in golf simulators. Basically, the function of this fence would be to tell if the ball crossed the plane, but at a higher level it could also make the determination of if a player was down before the ball crossed the plane. If the invisible fence were to have a timer on it, the fence machine could measure the exact time the ball crossed the plane. By syncing the game clock with the invisible fence and the TV broadcast, a review official could fast forward the review to the exact millisecond when the ball crossed the plane and simply look at a freeze frame to determine if the player was down or not. Video review of that play would be a snap shot rather than a moving picture guess.

Together with the above stated technology, you could immediately improve a vast number of things. Simply by inserting sensors in the ball itself, measuring in correlation to the invisible fence, a computer could easily tell what direction the ball was moving, as well as how far away from the goal line the ball is. These two relatively wide spread pieces of electronics would vastly improve ball spot accuracy and eliminate the fumble/incomplete pass dilemma. If this technology is employed, the NFL could also simply add sensors to the first down chains or another invisible fence type gadget to quickly determine first downs or not.

Lastly, if feasible, include a touch sensor on the ball, somehow measuring ball control and possession. This last part is more than likely science fiction with today’s present technology, but if the easily implemented NFL officiating technology is successful and profitable, innovators and companies a huge incentive to create.

Each of these pieces of technology accomplishes three out of my four goals. Objectivity and accuracy are obviously accomplished, while the game pace would certainly improve because most of these additions would actually speed up video reviews or provide instant feedback.

But in order to maintain the sanctity of the game, I am not proposing firing all officials. Instead maintain the replay rules. Each team gets 2 challenges, but a technology challenge would be part of it. Instead of simply correcting an eye level human call with a technology result, a red flag would have to be thrown to see the result of the NFL officiating technology.

The NFL could team up with television companies like ESPN, FOX, CBS, and NBC. The technology the NFL implements could be synced and shown to all the people at home in unique and aesthetically pleasing ways, enhancing thee viewer’s experience Of course there would probably have to be some rule delaying broadcasters from showing the technology results until after the coach has a chance to challenge. The red flag challenge would be decided not by coaching intuition, but simply because someone associated with the team was watching NBC.

The NFL needs to change something so winners and losers are not determined on close (non-reviewed) plays. Technology such as what I have suggested is the next logical step. The NFL should entice innovators with large contracts to create the technology to solve their officiating predicament.

NOTE: If you have lots of capital and happen to be an entrepreneur and would like to start a business with me and my ideas, please email me at Dashiz008@gmail.com. I do have an electrical engineering degree...☺