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By Daniel Kaplan Dec 11, 2019
IRVING, Texas — In a season known for officiating gaffes and pass interference challenge questions, NFL football operations chief Troy Vincent today, when given the opportunity, declined to give a vote of confidence to Al Riveron, senior vice president of officiating.
Vincent and Rich McKay, chairman of the competition committee, addressed reporters at the NFL owners meeting today and were asked about the status of Riveron, a lightning rod for critics because of the many, oft-talked-about officiating mistakes this year.
“Well, I think we start with, just what do we do well, what do we not do well,” Vincent replied, not addressing Riveron directly or offering any praise. “I’m the leader of the group, and even have to evaluate myself. Do we have the right people in place? … Are the right people in place that are initiating rules and administering the game on Sunday, Mondays, and Thursdays? Are we the right people? Is it the right process? All of those things [have] to be evaluated, starting with myself.”
Vincent and McKay, who is also president of the Atlanta Falcons, said everything officiating wise is on the table this offseason, from pass interference replay to the officiating department.
“When you look at officiating this year there’s a cloud over the PI (pass interference) and then we had Week One through Week Three where there was a substantial amount of holding penalties that causes the penalty count to spike,” Vincent said. “We’ll look at everything.”
There’s also been an increase of new safety-related rules — from leading with the helmet to eliminating blindside blocks — and McKay emphasized that officials have a full plate as a result.
“A lot of times we put rules in for all the right reasons, which is for safety, but then you know, sometimes we forget that we are putting the stress on those on-field officials when they’ve got something else completely different to look at,” he said. “So sometimes we do that. And the people that bear the brunt of execution are the officials. And I’m not sure that sometimes we give them enough credit for doing that.”
After the blatant no-call on what was clearly defensive pass interference in last year’s NFC Championship Game between the Saints and Rams, owners agreed to a one-year trial of replay challenges and reviews for pass interference. It is the first time a subjective call falls under replay.
After overturning nearly no calls in the first 10 weeks of the season, there’s been quite a noticeable uptick over the last few weeks — 20 of 87 pass interference challenges have now been successful this season, with many of those coming in recent games. Riveron even stopped the end of the Week 14 Jets-Dolphins game inside the last two minutes to make a defensive pass interference call on a failed 3rd-and-18 play.
“There’s no question there’s been angst,” said McKay of PI review. “I have felt the angst in our team’s building…But it’s a new rule. It’s a big change, it’s something we haven’t done before. So I don’t want to prejudge what the outcome is.”
McKay also said there is a learning curve with officiating PI review, suggesting that is what’s behind the sudden increase in overturns rather than a new standard.
“I leave that to the idea that as you move through the year and you see more and more plays, this is the first time we’ve ever done this,” he said.
Asked if replay review would survive, he replied with only, “It will be a point of discussion.”
On other matters, the duo emphasized they are committed to keeping kicking in football, whether kickoffs or onside kicks. Over the years there have been calls to eliminate the kickoff, which once was the most dangerous play. New rules have been implemented to address and change that, though they’ve also made kickoffs a less exciting play.
“Over the last couple of years we’ve had some playing rule proposals around the onside kick or what we should we be doing and just want to encourage them that we want to make sure that we are keeping the foot in the game,” Vincent said.
Predictably they were asked about the latest Patriots videotaping incident. Both demurred.
“I am gathering facts,” Vincent said when asked about the Patriots’ contention that its crew videotaping the Bengals’ sideline from the press box was an innocent transgression of league policy. “I wouldn’t be in… the right position to make a comment on what’s believable and is not, as we get the details, our security reports back, we’ll evaluate it. And we’ll make a decision based off the facts.”
Ben Volin, the Boston Globe’s Patriots reporter, tweeted in response: “They have all the info they need. The NFL just wants to wait until after the owners’ meetings to come out with its ruling.”
We will know soon if that’s the case. The owners’ meeting ended today.
IRVING, Texas — In a season known for officiating gaffes and pass interference challenge questions, NFL football operations chief Troy Vincent today, when given the opportunity, declined to give a vote of confidence to Al Riveron, senior vice president of officiating.
Vincent and Rich McKay, chairman of the competition committee, addressed reporters at the NFL owners meeting today and were asked about the status of Riveron, a lightning rod for critics because of the many, oft-talked-about officiating mistakes this year.
“Well, I think we start with, just what do we do well, what do we not do well,” Vincent replied, not addressing Riveron directly or offering any praise. “I’m the leader of the group, and even have to evaluate myself. Do we have the right people in place? … Are the right people in place that are initiating rules and administering the game on Sunday, Mondays, and Thursdays? Are we the right people? Is it the right process? All of those things [have] to be evaluated, starting with myself.”
Vincent and McKay, who is also president of the Atlanta Falcons, said everything officiating wise is on the table this offseason, from pass interference replay to the officiating department.
“When you look at officiating this year there’s a cloud over the PI (pass interference) and then we had Week One through Week Three where there was a substantial amount of holding penalties that causes the penalty count to spike,” Vincent said. “We’ll look at everything.”
There’s also been an increase of new safety-related rules — from leading with the helmet to eliminating blindside blocks — and McKay emphasized that officials have a full plate as a result.
“A lot of times we put rules in for all the right reasons, which is for safety, but then you know, sometimes we forget that we are putting the stress on those on-field officials when they’ve got something else completely different to look at,” he said. “So sometimes we do that. And the people that bear the brunt of execution are the officials. And I’m not sure that sometimes we give them enough credit for doing that.”
After the blatant no-call on what was clearly defensive pass interference in last year’s NFC Championship Game between the Saints and Rams, owners agreed to a one-year trial of replay challenges and reviews for pass interference. It is the first time a subjective call falls under replay.
After overturning nearly no calls in the first 10 weeks of the season, there’s been quite a noticeable uptick over the last few weeks — 20 of 87 pass interference challenges have now been successful this season, with many of those coming in recent games. Riveron even stopped the end of the Week 14 Jets-Dolphins game inside the last two minutes to make a defensive pass interference call on a failed 3rd-and-18 play.
“There’s no question there’s been angst,” said McKay of PI review. “I have felt the angst in our team’s building…But it’s a new rule. It’s a big change, it’s something we haven’t done before. So I don’t want to prejudge what the outcome is.”
McKay also said there is a learning curve with officiating PI review, suggesting that is what’s behind the sudden increase in overturns rather than a new standard.
“I leave that to the idea that as you move through the year and you see more and more plays, this is the first time we’ve ever done this,” he said.
Asked if replay review would survive, he replied with only, “It will be a point of discussion.”
On other matters, the duo emphasized they are committed to keeping kicking in football, whether kickoffs or onside kicks. Over the years there have been calls to eliminate the kickoff, which once was the most dangerous play. New rules have been implemented to address and change that, though they’ve also made kickoffs a less exciting play.
“Over the last couple of years we’ve had some playing rule proposals around the onside kick or what we should we be doing and just want to encourage them that we want to make sure that we are keeping the foot in the game,” Vincent said.
Predictably they were asked about the latest Patriots videotaping incident. Both demurred.
“I am gathering facts,” Vincent said when asked about the Patriots’ contention that its crew videotaping the Bengals’ sideline from the press box was an innocent transgression of league policy. “I wouldn’t be in… the right position to make a comment on what’s believable and is not, as we get the details, our security reports back, we’ll evaluate it. And we’ll make a decision based off the facts.”
Ben Volin, the Boston Globe’s Patriots reporter, tweeted in response: “They have all the info they need. The NFL just wants to wait until after the owners’ meetings to come out with its ruling.”
We will know soon if that’s the case. The owners’ meeting ended today.
