Best of What Just Happened : Coach’s Challenge

Originally posted here on November 26, 2012

You may have tuned into the Texans at Lions game on Thanksgiving and witnessed the enforcement of one of the weirder rules that exists in the NFL these days involving the coach’s challenge.

On the play in question, Texans running back Justin Forsett was clearly down – his elbow and knee both touching the field – but the whistle never blew, which meant the play was still live. Kudos to Forsett, who had the awareness to get up and keep running…all 81 yards to score a touchdown.

Under normal circumstances, this play would have been reviewed and called back. There’s no way that call would have stood. There are a number of plays that areautomatically reviewed by the Replay Official. They include:

  • all scoring plays
  • interceptions
  • fumbles
  • backward passes that are recovered by an opponent or go out of bounds through an opponent’s end zone
  • muffed scrimmage kicks recovered by the kicking team
  • any questionable plays after the two-minute warning of each half
  • any questionable plays throughout any overtime period

So, here’s the sequence of normal events:

1. A play is made that results in a touchdown.

2. The scoring play is reviewed upstairs because all scoring plays are reviewed to be sure everything was kosher and the play actually resulted in the score awarded (feet in-bounds, control of the ball, etc).

But that’s not what happened on Thursday. Seeing that the play was ruled a touchdown, Lions head coach Jim Schwartz (understandably) flipped and threw the red coaches challenge flag. (Coaches get two challenges per game. If they are wrong about the play in question, they are charged one time out. If they are right, the call is reversed. If they are right both times, they earn an extra challenge.) However, a scoring play is among the plays that are automatically reviewed by the Replay Official. That means that it is NOT able to be challenged by a coach, and there is a hefty penalty for throwing the challenge flag anyway: a 15 yard penalty, AND the play is no longer reviewable. The ruling on the field stands. This is what happened to Jim Schwartz on Thanksgiving.

1. Justin Forsett’s play was ruled a touchdown.

2. Jim Schwartz believed that Forsett was down 81 yards ago and throws the challenge flag.

3. Since the play would have been reviewed anyway and the gesture of throwing the challenge flag is seen as a delay of game tactic, a 15 yard penalty was enforced and the play was rendered unreviewable. The ruling on the field stood, even though it was clearly wrong.

So the Texans earned a touchdown that would have been overturned, and went on to win 34-31 in overtime. It stands to reason that if the call had been reversed, the outcome of the game would have been very different.

It’s a pretty harsh rule, admittedly. So much so that the NFL came out and said they’re going to change it in the off-season, or potentially sooner. I think everyone is in agreement that it’s a good idea.

Wait…What Just Happened? : No Challenge

In the Packers at Vikings game yesterday we witnessed one of the unfortunate flaws in the Coach’s Challenge system. Let’s chat about that.

In a weird play, Vikings QB Christian Ponder threw a pass that was tipped, bounced around by a few players, and finally recovered by a Viking. All of that was legal. But what wasn’t legal was the “catch” at the end of the play. It was initially called as a catch by the Vikings, but after a second look it was easy to see that the ball had actually grazed the ground and was not a legal catch.

But it wasn’t reviewed or recalled. Here’s why:

In order to challenge a ruling on the field, using the red Coach’s Challenge flag, a team has to have a challenge to use (they get two per game – if they are right on both, they get an extra one) but they also have to have a time out. Why? Because if what the coach challenges is reviewed and is not ruled in the coach’s favor, the team is charged one time out. So that means they can’t challenge if they don’t have a time out.

And the Packers had a challenge remaining, but they didn’t have a time out. So the Vikings were quick to get the next play underway before any type of official review could be called, and the end result was a touchdown for the Vikings.

Now, in my opinion, not having the challenge ruled in your favor is punishment enough. Having a time out extracted just feels like salt in the wound. But I’m guessing that’s what they want to do to keep coaches from challenging more than absolutely necessary. That’s all well and good, but when it results in a bad call standing and points being put on the board later, that’s not well or good. And the Vikings ended up winning the game by a field goal…and as a Packers fan, that’s like the ultimate of unwell and ungood. There needs to be some sort of contingency plan.

Also, remember the last time we talked about Coach’s Challenge? On Thanksgiving when Jim Schwartz threw the flag on an unreviewable play and a call that would have been overturned stood because of it? A similar situation occurred in this game. Mike McCarthy threw the flag on a scoring play, which seemed like what happened with Schwartz on Thanksgiving. However on this play, the official had already blown the whistle and called for the review, which meant that the play was not deemed “unreviewable” because of McCarthy’s flag-throwing, but the Packers were given a 15 yard penalty anyway.

If you are confused…you’re not alone. The rules regarding the Coach’s Challenge seem legitimate to basically no one and really need to be revisited ASAP. Since the whole system is relatively new it makes sense that the kinks are still being worked out. But really, there are some sizable kinks, and hopefully they are resolved in the off-season.

As Mike Pereira said, “The object of replay is to get the call right.” At the end of the day, that’s what the replay system needs to make happen.

Wait…What Just Happened? : Coach’s Challenge

You may have tuned into the Texans at Lions game on Thanksgiving and witnessed the enforcement of one of the weirder rules that exists in the NFL these days involving the coach’s challenge.

On the play in question, Texans running back Justin Forsett was clearly down – his elbow and knee both touching the field – but the whistle never blew, which meant the play was still live. Kudos to Forsett, who had the awareness to get up and keep running…all 81 yards to score a touchdown.

Under normal circumstances, this play would have been reviewed and called back. There’s no way that call would have stood. There are a number of plays that are automatically reviewed by the Replay Official. They include:

  • all scoring plays
  • interceptions
  • fumbles
  • backward passes that are recovered by an opponent or go out of bounds through an opponent’s end zone
  • muffed scrimmage kicks recovered by the kicking team
  • any questionable plays after the two-minute warning of each half
  • any questionable plays throughout any overtime period

So, here’s the sequence of normal events:

1. A play is made that results in a touchdown.

2. The scoring play is reviewed upstairs because all scoring plays are reviewed to be sure everything was kosher and the play actually resulted in the score awarded (feet in-bounds, control of the ball, etc).

But that’s not what happened on Thursday. Seeing that the play was ruled a touchdown, Lions head coach Jim Schwartz (understandably) flipped and threw the red coaches challenge flag. (Coaches get two challenges per game. If they are wrong about the play in question, they are charged one time out. If they are right, the call is reversed. If they are right both times, they earn an extra challenge.) However, a scoring play is among the plays that are automatically reviewed by the Replay Official. That means that it is NOT able to be challenged by a coach, and there is a hefty penalty for throwing the challenge flag anyway: a 15 yard penalty, AND the play is no longer reviewable. The ruling on the field stands. This is what happened to Jim Schwartz on Thanksgiving.

1. Justin Forsett’s play was ruled a touchdown.

2. Jim Schwartz believed that Forsett was down 81 yards ago and throws the challenge flag.

3. Since the play would have been reviewed anyway and the gesture of throwing the challenge flag is seen as a delay of game tactic, a 15 yard penalty was enforced and the play was rendered unreviewable. The ruling on the field stood, even though it was clearly wrong.

So the Texans earned a touchdown that would have been overturned, and went on to win 34-31 in overtime. It stands to reason that if the call had been reversed, the outcome of the game would have been very different.

It’s a pretty harsh rule, admittedly. So much so that the NFL came out and said they’re going to change it in the off-season, or potentially sooner. I think everyone is in agreement that it’s a good idea.