Dre’Mont Jones was about to be flagged for roughing the passer, right up until a new rule overturned the call.
The Seattle Seahawks stymied the Denver Broncos offense all game, committing no defensive penalties on the afternoon.
There was one penalty that was called that, thanks to a new NFL rule, was overturned.
In the fourth quarter with the Seahawks up 26-13, Leonard Williams and Dre’Mont Jones pressured and hit Broncos quarterback Bo Nix into an incomplete pass. The officials threw a flag for roughing the passer on Jones, turning what would’ve been 2nd and 10 into a 15-yard penalty and an automatic first down for the Broncos.
When lead official Brad Allen turned on his microphone, he announced the flag had been picked up:
“After replay assist, there is no foul for a personal foul to the head and neck area. Second down.”
As Field Gulls addressed earlier in the offseason, the NFL expanded replay official capabilities to include reviews of roughing the passer, late hits out of bounds, and intentional grounding penalties. These penalties can be advised for overturn when “specific, objective aspects of a play when clear and obvious video evidence is present,” the rule states.
Among the NFL’s new rules:
Replay assist was expanded to review roughing the passer, intentional grounding, and late hits out of bounds penalties for possible overturn.
The Seahawks were the first team to benefit from the roughing the passer rule on this Dre’Mont Jones hit: pic.twitter.com/0upJI4wNOv
— Mookie Alexander (@mookiealexander) September 9, 2024
It should be noted that replay assist can only overturn a called penalty into a no-call, not the other way around, so in a hypothetical world where Jones clearly roughed Nix but no flag was thrown, the replay assist could not recommend a penalty be assessed after the fact.
Even within the context of roughing the passer, it’s only for a specific type of call. This is what the rulebook states:
“If a foul is called for roughing the passer based only on a hit to the passer’s head or neck area and there is clear and obvious video evidence that the defender did not make any contact with the passer’s head or neck area.”
Jones’ hit met the criteria for review, and the replay showed beyond dispute that the overturn was justified.
This was not the only instance of the replay assist program during the 1 pm PT window. In the Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Washington Commanders game, the Bucs thought they had a 32-yard screen pass to Rachaad White wiped out due to an ineligible man downfield penalty on Graham Barton, who was adjudged to have been beyond one yard of the line of scrimmage at the time the pass was thrown. Referee Bill Vinovich initially announced the flag, but replay assist stepped in to overturn what was a clearly erroneous call. Replay assist already had the ability to step in on ineligible man downfield penalties prior to the 2024 season.
While this is far from a perfect system, these two examples are positives instances of the value of replay assist in fixing clear and obvious officiating mistakes without slowing the game to a halt.