NFL Looks at Instant Replay for the Playoffs

The NFL, apparently stung by escalating criticism of embarrassing officiating gaffes the last two weeks, abruptly declared Monday that it is considering using instant replay for the playoffs.

If league owners approve, there’s a “possibility” that replay “might come back for the playoffs,” league spokesman Greg Aiello said.

Three games in the last two weeks have been decided by questionable calls, and Aiello said “several clubs” that in the past have opposed a return to replay “expressed a willingness to consider it for the playoffs, as an insurance policy.”

Among the blown calls was one Sunday that gave the New York Jets’ Vinny Testaverde a touchdown with 20 seconds remaining in what ended up a 32-31 victory over Seattle. Countless replays showed Testaverde was stopped short of the goal line.

The play essentially knocked Seattle out of playoff contention. It kept the Jets tied with Miami for first place in the AFC East, one game ahead of New England and Buffalo.

The week before, a dubious pass interference call in the end zone allowed New England to beat Buffalo. Before that came a disputed coin flip to start overtime in the Pittsburgh-Detroit game on Thanksgiving.

Several New York newspapers on Monday showed photos of Testaverde on the ground a foot shy of the end zone. “God’s a Jet Fan” screamed one headline in the New York Post. Another headline in the same paper shouted, “Christmas Gift!”

Asked if such coverage had an impact on discussions Monday at league offices in downtown Manhattan, Aiello replied, “Well, sure.”

He added about the play: “It was not a touchdown. That’s self-evident once you see the replay. It may not be apparent to the naked eye, as [the play] happens. But once we saw replay, it was clear. And that’s everyone’s biggest fear, that a playoff game or Super Bowl would be determined in that way.”

The system the NFL is considering would be modeled on one the league used in this year’s exhibition games--with coaches given two challenges a game and a referee making the ultimate decision from a monitor on the sideline, not in the press box as previously done.

Kinks remain to be worked out, Aiello cautioned. For instance, it’s unclear whether a team that uses a challenge should lose a timeout as a consequence, he said.

Also under consideration, he said, is the possibility of giving the referee “leeway” to decide for himself to review a call in the final two minutes of a game--even if a team is out of challenges.

“The officials are for anything that prevents a problem,” retired referee Red Cashion, who worked as an NFL referee for 25 seasons, said Monday night.

Similarly, Jim Tunney, who retired as an NFL referee after 31 years, said he is in favor of using replay. But not until next season, he said, warning that making a hasty decision to bring back replay comes with its own set of problems: “It’s like they’ve got a fly and they’re sending an Uzi to kill the fly.”

The technology, Aiello said, “exists to get it done” now because the challenge system has been tried in exhibition games. All that’s needed, he said, is a phone vote by the 31 NFL owners.

No timetable, however, has been set, Aiello said. The playoffs begin Jan. 2.

At a meeting in March, owners voted down a proposal for a new form of replay. The vote was 21-9, two shy of the three-fourths then needed.

It now would need 24 votes to pass. That’s because the league voted this year to expand to 31 teams from 30, awarding a franchise to Cleveland.

From 1986 through 1991, the league used replay, albeit a system in which a replay official sat in a press box booth. It was plagued with lengthy delays.

Since then, seven teams consistently have voted against bringing back replay: Buffalo, Arizona, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Chicago, Tampa Bay and the New York Giants. In March, San Diego and Oakland--both of which at times have been in favor of replay--voted no.

After his team’s last-second loss last week to New England, however, Buffalo owner Ralph Wilson has had a change of heart. And, Aiello said, Commissioner Paul Tagliabue talked to other owners Monday who convinced him there are now enough votes to consider making replay a reality.