Brinson: Problematic For NFL To Have Officiating Gaffe On Second Straight Monday Night
BOSTON (CBS) -- The NFL has itself an officiating problem.
Just one week after a back judge clearly saw Seahawks linebacker K.J. Wright illegally bat a ball out of the end zone but decided to not call a penalty, a major officiating blunder took place again on Monday night.
This time, it came in the fourth quarter in San Diego, when the Chargers kicked off with 2:56 left in the game. After a touchback, however, the Steelers took over at their own 20-yard line, but the clock had just 2:38 left on it. Somehow, 18 seconds disappeared from the clock.
The Steelers made it somewhat of a non-story by driving down the field and scoring the game-winning touchdown before time expired, but still, another officiating gaffe on the national stage is a very troubling issue for the NFL.
"What the problem is," CBS Sports' Will Brinson said on Toucher & Rich on Tuesday, "is that you have these incidents where it would be so easily solved by having the same guy -- hello, Dean Blandino -- sitting in a room in New York, looking at these plays, and saying, 'Hold on, let's stop what we're doing for 30 seconds. Let's look at this. Let's come to a conclusion that is fair, that is just, that applies to the rule of common sense, and then let's use that rule to proceed.'
"We take timeouts between kickoffs and the first plays of drives. We as football fans would be fine taking an extra 30 seconds to get a rule right. And the same thing applies to last Monday. Pause it, figure out what you gotta do, make it reviewable, treat it like the NHL does, and stop giving us these lame excuses as to why once again the NFL doesn't have an accurate set of rules to follow."
Brinson said the line of communication already exists; it's just a matter of the officials and the New York command center actually utilizing it.
"What they did last Monday, is they were like, 'Well, our hands are tied. I guess we can't do anything here.' And that's just silly," Brinson said. "Bill Belichick is right. Everything should be reviewable. Make it to the point where the same five guys every week are the ones up in New York reviewing every play and deciding the outcome of these individual plays. Ultimately they want consistency, and the best way to have consistency is to make sure that you have someone at the home base passing down rulings on what is and what is not accurate."
Brinson also discussed owner reaction to Belichick's proposal to make everything reviewable, the head coaching situation in Indianapolis and Baltimore, and more. Listen below!