Inside the NFL’ s owner meetings, among the dozen rule changes they are discussing and dissecting the one that is flying under the radar is the changes to officiating. Could referees be getting headsets that will allow for pre-snap communications?
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Peter King of MMQB.com (If you don't read their stuff already you should) spoke with Vice President of Officiating Dean Blandino to talk about the changes coming.
“We’re going to implement an official-to-official communications system, so all seven officials can communicate wirelessly. Each official will have an earpiece, a microphone, and just a little radio pack where they can communicate in a closed system, encrypted.”
Blandino broke down the the process and how they have tested the equipment to make the transition a smooth and easy one.
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“We’ve tested this the last two years, and we feel it gives us better communication, more efficient communication pre-snap—when you’re talking about coverages, especially downfield when you have three downfield officials.”
The NFL also has the issue of who should be involved in the officiating command center that consults the officials on controversial calls on a minutes notice. Blandino doesn’t believe the league should have a central command center like hockey has and like baseball will have this year.
“We want to look at how the consult process goes,” Blandino said. “Maybe there’s some unintended consequences of what we’re proposing. In hockey they have far fewer reviews. They all revolve around goals, for the most part. In our game, the biggest issue is inside the last two minutes, when the replay official has to initiate a review of a play. To do that in New York, how would we initiate a review of the play without actually being there to see it take place? That’s probably the biggest hurdle to going to a fully centralized operation.”
That is an issue I would rather have in house due to the consistency that would come from the same people in a single station making the calls. With a consultation role the human error aspect of the game becomes more prominent based on who is making the call and who is most qualified. It’s trial and error at this point and if it doesn’t work you will never even know its gone.
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The teams of the NFL have suggested some of the more physical changes to the game such as moving the extra point and raising the goal post, but the things you won’t “see” will be handled by the people closest to the NFL. Lets just hope they are the most qualified hands to handle it.
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