The conclusion of the Browns-Colts game on Sunday was marred by two questionable decisions on the decisive drive. The Colts owner now says the league has admitted the penalty flags were thrown in error.
“The NFL admits and understands that it did not make the right decisions at the end of the Colts/Browns game on Sunday,” Indianapolis owner Jim Irsay tweeted Tuesday night. “I believe we need to implement instant replay for all calls, including penalties, in the last two minutes of all games.”
He is presumably referring to an illegal contact foul that nullified a fumble recovered by the Colts that would have allowed a 38-33 win, and a subsequent pass interference penalty that gave the Browns first place and first goal has given. The Browns later scored the game-winning touchdown on fourth-and-goal.
The first was close. As a source with another team said, far worse contact between receivers occurs on a regular basis, especially toward the end of games. As for the second pass, the pass was clearly unassailable; it ended up well outside the end zone. As one of the PFT writers noted about the text chain through which we constantly communicate, not even Dwight Clark on a ladder could have caught that ball.
It’s unusual for teams to go public with such concessions from the league. Certainly 345 Park Avenue will not appreciate Irsay’s candor.
The bigger question is whether Irsay’s argument will succeed. He suggests that everything should be checked in the last two minutes of a game. In 2019, the NFL made pass interference calls and non-calls reviewable. It became a debacle, largely because of the changing and inconsistent standards regarding what did and did not constitute interference.
In this particular case, the retest would have (or at least should have) shown that the passport for which disability was claimed was in fact irrecoverable.
However the league handles this going forward, it’s something that needs to be fixed. With the NFL lining its pockets with money from gambling support, the league has an increased obligation to do everything that can reasonably be done to eliminate errors by officials, particularly in the final moments of a close game. Blaming it on human error should no longer be enough; In today’s climate, such mistakes affect interests far beyond those of either team.
So what will the league do? And more importantly, will the league take action before a given scandal becomes large enough to trigger outside oversight, whether in the form of civil litigation over game losses, congressional action (up to and including the creation of a federal agency to deal with it, among other things). is commissioned). , establishing and enforcing rules for the conduct of office) or criminal prosecution for those whose actions may cross the line from negligence to willful and intentional misconduct.
At some point it will come. The NFL can either wait for it to happen and deal with the resulting mess(es), or it can take meaningful action now aimed at providing a more meaningful explanation to teams and those who bet their hard-earned money give as: “Shit happens.” ”