2022-2023 NFL Playoffs discussion

[Joseph Zarr]

I absolutely love the 49ers meltdown. It's almost an annual occurrence at this point. They are obviously super talented and they obviously suffered some unfortunate and untimely qb injuries today, but seeing the Shanny pouty face and watching the 49ers self combust with penalties is the chef's kiss. 

[Fear The Chorizo]

To me the 49ers are no different than the Packers the past few seasons - their roster is just structured differently.  Both are really good teams that run into an opponent in the playoffs that can exploit a weakness and knock them out, leaving them with no title despite a talented roster.

The Super Bowl is going to be a really good game, and honestly I think I'd favor the eagles over either of the afc teams - didn't think I'd say that before today.

[sveumrules]

Raucous Arrowhead crowd no doubt helps, but Chiefs defense looked pretty sharp in the first half.

[yourout]

The Bengals used their last timeout before half when they could have spiked it quick.

[MrTPlush]

Amazing work by the refs there to get into field goal position to win it! Wow!

[HarveysWBs]

And an absolute career low-point moment for that Cincinnati linebacker.  Yeesh.  I’m sure Quay Walker feels like he’s got some cover now…

[homer]

it was a penalty but not as egregious as it looked at first. 

[HarveysWBs]

My real takeaway from the AFC championship is that the game has apparently progressed beyond the ability of on-field referees to effectively manage.  I mean, you’d think the NFL, with its billions, could invest in the best refs and ref training, but apparently not. So they need to do the alternative, which is a big leap in technological capabilities.  
 

They need video assisted referees that can overrule egregious mistakes in real time (and as long as they can implement this more successfully than VAR in European soccer—a low bar to clear!—it’s a win). And they need to be able to get ball spots down to a science already.  If tennis can handle in and out calls digitally with cameras, the NFL can afford to get this thing figured out with cameras and sensors.  
 

This is ridiculous. At some point, it’s going to impact the confidence in the integrity of the game.

[homer]

my opinion is that refs are doing as well as they have always done it's just that the technology we use to show games is so much better that we can spot the mistakes a lot easier. 

[Fear The Chorizo]

9 hours ago, HarveysWBs said:

My real takeaway from the AFC championship is that the game has apparently progressed beyond the ability of on-field referees to effectively manage.  I mean, you’d think the NFL, with its billions, could invest in the best refs and ref training, but apparently not. So they need to do the alternative, which is a big leap in technological capabilities.  
 

They need video assisted referees that can overrule egregious mistakes in real time (and as long as they can implement this more successfully than VAR in European soccer—a low bar to clear!—it’s a win). And they need to be able to get ball spots down to a science already.  If tennis can handle in and out calls digitally with cameras, the NFL can afford to get this thing figured out with cameras and sensors.  
 

This is ridiculous. At some point, it’s going to impact the confidence in the integrity of the game.

A game that has 60 minutes of running clock often takes about 4 hours to play - adding more technology/eye from the sky reviews is going impact the watchability of the game.  You can't do reviews to the level you want without impacting pace of play.  

My current issue with NFL refereeing is there are so many rules that depending on specific points of emphasis season to season, there are penalties that often get overlooked - to me this season's culprit is PI's occurring when the pass is in the air.  They focused heavily on illegal contact penalties throughout the season, flagging DBs at times who made incidential contact on a receiver 8 yards downfield, but then they seemed to have lost the ability to throw PI flags when DB's are grabbing jerseys or arms to either prevent separation or impact a catch.  Maybe that just showed up more this season watching the Packers due to not getting benefit of calls with rookie receivers and not Davante Adams looking for those flags, but it seemed like similar stuff was happening with other teams in the playoffs, too.  I'd prefer the NFL adopt modified college PI/illegal contact rules, where DBs can maintain contact with a receiver anywhere on the field until the ball is in the air, but then PI remains a spot foul and not just a 15 yard penalty for a PI on a deep pass to prevent a huge play/TD.

[MrTPlush]

This game can pretty much be summed up by calls the refs made that were technically right, but literally no one wanted to be called except Chiefs fans. 

Outside of the push at the end, the third down was another call that was just strange in the end. The Chiefs were unaffected by the clock, they snap it, and fail. Then a ref comes running in that no one even noticed was trying to stop the play and they must redo it? I mean, that is just brutal. If a play can be redone because the ref was trying to stop it and no one noticed...why can't a coach challenge that they were trying to call a timeout...but a ref didn't notice?

What if the Chiefs get the first down? I really wonder if they force a redo on that play. I am pretty convinced it would have been like in basketball where the official only calls the foul if the offensive player misses. If the guy makes the basket, they just swallow the whistle. 

 

[homer]

I feel happy for MVS. Nice game for what seems like a good dude.

[stoutdude04]

18 hours ago, wallus said:

Hopefully the AFC Championship game is better than this game.

Yea - that game was so boring to watch. My goodness.

[jerichoholicninja]

15 hours ago, HarveysWBs said:

My real takeaway from the AFC championship is that the game has apparently progressed beyond the ability of on-field referees to effectively manage.  I mean, you’d think the NFL, with its billions, could invest in the best refs and ref training, but apparently not. So they need to do the alternative, which is a big leap in technological capabilities.  
 

They need video assisted referees that can overrule egregious mistakes in real time (and as long as they can implement this more successfully than VAR in European soccer—a low bar to clear!—it’s a win). And they need to be able to get ball spots down to a science already.  If tennis can handle in and out calls digitally with cameras, the NFL can afford to get this thing figured out with cameras and sensors.  
 

This is ridiculous. At some point, it’s going to impact the confidence in the integrity of the game.

Totally agree that humans on the field can't call the game consistently or correctly. I think it would be easy to have a "video ref" who could watch the game and make or negate calls but I don't know if the potential for constantly interrupting the flow of the game would be worth it.

The other issue is how penalties totally flip a game. I'm glad that the NFL has taken steps to protect players from vicious, unnecessary hits but how many times every Sunday does a team get gifted into a field goal or scoring position when a defensive player gets flagged for helmet to helmet contact because two players were running at each other and football stuff happened? Or a rusher comes in with his hands up trying to block a pass and accidentally grazes a QB's helmet and gets flagged? They've got to figure out a way to stop that crap. 

[areacodes]

8 hours ago, Fear The Chorizo said:

A game that has 60 minutes of running clock often takes about 4 hours to play - adding more technology/eye from the sky reviews is going impact the watchability of the game.  You can't do reviews to the level you want without impacting pace of play.  

Where are you getting over 4 hours a game?  The articles from the last few years that I found with a quick google search all showed a 3:12 game average.

I’d like to see more of the “we consulted and determined the spot, catch, etc was incorrect” that was incorporated more this year. When there is a penalty, they are already talking with the ref that threw the flag so having somebody up in the booth who can interject and correct the glaring mistakes shouldn’t increase game time too much.

[Fear The Chorizo]

16 hours ago, areacodes said:

Where are you getting over 4 hours a game?  The articles from the last few years that I found with a quick google search all showed a 3:12 game average.

I’d like to see more of the “we consulted and determined the spot, catch, etc was incorrect” that was incorporated more this year. When there is a penalty, they are already talking with the ref that threw the flag so having somebody up in the booth who can interject and correct the glaring mistakes shouldn’t increase game time too much.

My 4 hr estimate is more based on anecdotal, not actual average times....I would say the college game could learn a thing or two about clock rules from the NFL so their game lengths are shortened.  It just feels like the game length could be reduced below 3 hrs in time on average if there weren't so many random stoppages.

The one thing I don't like with the eye from the sky quick corrections is that it may skew in the favor of one team or another, even if that's inadvertent.  The unexpected whistles and stoppages in play may not take up too much more time, but they do impact the flow of the game.  And oftentimes those eye in the sky reviews are still limited by initial camera angles - for example that Smith one handed catch early in the Eagles/49ers game leading to the Eagles 1st touchdown didn't have the camera angle shown later in the broadcast for a quick eye in the sky review and correction.  However, I'd argue that play was consequential enough to the game where the 49ers coach should have thrown the red challenge flag out immediately after it was apparent Smith himself was urging the Eagles to rush up to the line of scrimmage to run a play quickly, because he wasn't sure he caught the ball.

[homer]

Damar Hamlin looks pretty good for a clone.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

13 hours ago, homer said:

Damar Hamlin looks pretty good for a clone.

Wait, I thought he was hologram technology?