NFL’s proposed ‘replay assist’ rule change still wouldn’t correct blown no-calls

The NFL is looking to overturn more erroneously called penalties, but won’t turn erroneous no-calls into penalties.

We’ve reached the time of the offseason where the NFL is looking at amending the rulebook and making expansions to video replay. One of the major changes proposed is expanding the replay assist rule to overturn more erroneously called penalties, including face masks, tripping, roughing/running into the kicker, and horse collar tackles.

The existing guidelines allow replay assist to intervene for roughing the passer if “based only on a hit to the passer’s head or neck area.” It can also overturn called intentional grounding penalties, late hits out of bounds, and ineligible man downfield penalties.

What this still doesn’t do? Provide replay assist to recommend a flag actually be thrown. A prime example of what still can’t be overturned to a penalty is new Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold almost getting his face twisted off in a two-minute drill against the Los Angeles Rams last season.

For the most part, replay assist has been good at expediting reviews and overturning clearly incorrect calls without creating needlessly long stoppages. It does feel incomplete that outside of 12 men on the field penalties there is seemingly no mechanism for turning a blown no-call into a correct penalty.

We’ll see if this proposal turns into reality soon. The Competition Committee proposed this change as opposed to an NFL team, so it should have a high probability of garnering the necessary 75 percent (24 of 32) vote in order to pass.