Playoff Replay Gone in Instant

The NFL voted Tuesday not to bring back instant replay calls for the playoffs, which had been suggested in response to a series of botched calls in recent weeks.

In a 7-1 vote, the NFL’s competition committee rejected a replay plan that would have given coaches two challenges a game and enabled a referee to review a decision from a sideline television monitor.

“They felt we were kind of innovating or experimenting in the postseason . . . and it didn’t make sense to do that,” Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said.

Dallas Cowboy owner Jerry Jones cast the “yes” vote. Because the committee’s vote was so lopsided, Tagliabue said, the issue will not go on to another vote by all 31 NFL teams--meaning replay calls are dead for 1998.

Tagliabue added, however, that the panel also voted, 6-2, in favor of reinstating replay for the 1999 season--though in what form remains unclear because support for the so-called “challenge” system has, as he put it, “weakened.”

The commissioner said, “I emphasized for the committee I think we need replay.”

He also said, however, that he believes the league has not suffered “any decline in officiating.”

Three games in recent weeks have turned on questionable calls.

On Dec. 6, the New York Jets’ Vinny Testaverde was awarded a touchdown with 20 seconds remaining in what ended as a 32-31 Jet victory over Seattle. Replays showed that Testaverde had been stopped short of the goal line.

The week before, a dubious pass-interference call in the end zone allowed New England to beat Buffalo.

Before that was a disputed coin flip to start sudden-death overtime in the Pittsburgh-Detroit game on Thanksgiving Day. Pittsburgh’s Jerome Bettis said he’d called tails, which came up, but referee Phil Luckett said he had heard “heads-tails” and awarded the choice to Detroit. The Lions chose to receive and scored a field goal, winning, 19-16.

The calls sparked criticism nationwide and led the NFL last week to declare the league would consider using the challenge system for the playoffs, which begin Jan. 2.

That system drew 21 votes at a league meeting in March--two shy of the three-fourths margin then needed, when the league was made up of 30 teams. Cleveland has since been awarded the 31st franchise.

As an experiment, the league used the challenge system in several, though not all, of this season’s exhibition games. Also under consideration Tuesday was the possibility of giving the referee the authority to decide for himself to review a call in the final two minutes of a game, even if a team was out of challenges.

During the competition committee’s hourlong conference call Tuesday, Jones indicated the system involved some risk of experimenting but nonetheless said the Cowboys “would go with it,” Tagliabue said.

The others believed “the disadvantages outweighed the advantages,” Tagliabue said.

Bill Polian, the Indianapolis Colts’ president, noted there might be a “comparative unfairness” for playoff teams that had not played a preseason game under the challenge system.

The committee is chaired by Green Bay Coach Mike Holmgren and Tampa Bay General Manager Rich McKay. Others on the panel are coaches Dennis Green of Minnesota and Bill Cowher of Pittsburgh, owner Mike Brown of Cincinnati, and General Manager Charlie Casserly of Washington.

McKay and Brown cast the two “no” votes for 1999 replay, Tagliabue said. The commissioner characterized that as “not a vote so much as an expression of opinion.”

The Bengals have consistently voted against replay and Brown remains skeptical, Tagliabue said. In March, Tampa Bay also voted no on replay but McKay--despite another no vote on Tuesday--is open-minded, Tagliabue said.

The league used replay from 1986 through 1991, but in that system, an official sat in a press box. It was plagued with lengthy delays.

With the fate of the challenge system unclear, Tagliabue said a consensus might have emerged Tuesday for a limited form of replay--one that focuses on sideline and end-zone calls, where “you get good television pictures on a consistent basis.”

He said that replays of calls in the middle of the field can more often produce inconclusive results, no matter how varied the camera angles.

Because of the addition of Cleveland, a three-quarters vote to bring replay back for the 1999 season needs 24 votes. Before next season, Tagliabue said Tuesday, “I think we’ll get to 75%.”