Latest / NFL explained. / Instant Replay
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- 0:06Speaker 1: NFL Explained is a production of the NFL in partnership
- 0:09Speaker 1: with I Heart Radio. Art is a brand new edition
- 0:17Speaker 1: of the NFL Explained podcast. Mike Yam and it's my guy,
- 0:21Speaker 1: m Rob. I miss you, man. We've had a good
- 0:23Speaker 1: flow going. You're usually in the studio with me and
- 0:25Speaker 1: then all of a sudden, you're at home. Now we're
- 0:27Speaker 1: going virtual on this. Yeah, we're going virtual on this one, Yams.
- 0:31Speaker 1: But it's all good, man. I had to do some
- 0:33Speaker 1: stuff with the kids, throw the football around, take some
- 0:35Speaker 1: field trips. I'll be back in the studio here pretty soon.
- 0:37Speaker 1: So I know. People were actually wondering if the field
- 0:40Speaker 1: trip included a ride to the Selfie Museum. Yeah or nay, no,
- 0:45Speaker 1: not the Selfie Museum, not quite yet. But I may
- 0:48Speaker 1: go there before I get on the flight to come
- 0:49Speaker 1: out there, which is good and it kind of leads
- 0:51Speaker 1: me down a path of what this episode is. When
- 0:54Speaker 1: I dropped the selfie museum right because we all have
- 0:56Speaker 1: our phones were attached to technology. I know everyone right
- 0:59Speaker 1: now who's listening to this podcast, like, think about this,
- 1:02Speaker 1: m Rob. You and I are old enough and I
- 1:04Speaker 1: like being able to say this. It was like it's
- 1:05Speaker 1: the old school of Vetera. You and I are holding
- 1:07Speaker 1: a back at my day we had a walkman and
- 1:09Speaker 1: the whole thing. But think about us, like people are
- 1:11Speaker 1: consuming our show on podcasts or even now on YouTube
- 1:15Speaker 1: and they get to go and see us with makeup
- 1:16Speaker 1: on and the whole thing. Yes, let's bring it. But
- 1:19Speaker 1: do you do you get that vibe that like we're
- 1:21Speaker 1: almost too attached now to technology and maybe the game
- 1:24Speaker 1: might be a little too attached to the tech. Well
- 1:28Speaker 1: a quick answer, yes, I believe society is attached to
- 1:32Speaker 1: technology a little too much. Just go walk through what
- 1:35Speaker 1: we used to call malls, middles, things that shopping centers
- 1:39Speaker 1: and stuff stuff. Absolutely, you go to a mall and
- 1:45Speaker 1: now everybody's looking at their phone, everybody's looking down. You
- 1:48Speaker 1: go to a school where a bunch of kids are
- 1:50Speaker 1: everybody's looking down. So I would say, yes, we are
- 1:53Speaker 1: a lot more attached to a technology today than we've
- 1:56Speaker 1: ever been in human times. Okay, so I'm gonna throw
- 1:58Speaker 1: this year way. Some people are listening to this podcast, like,
- 2:00Speaker 1: what's this technology in this NFL deal? All right, now
- 2:03Speaker 1: it's about to make sense for you today we are
- 2:05Speaker 1: all all about technology in the NFL. On a specific subject,
- 2:09Speaker 1: something that we're all used to seeing. We see it
- 2:11Speaker 1: every single Sunday, every Thursday, every Monday. And you know
- 2:14Speaker 1: what I'm talking about. It's all about instant replay, camera
- 2:17Speaker 1: angles all over people and fans talking about officials not
- 2:21Speaker 1: knowing what they're doing. Look at the end of the day,
- 2:23Speaker 1: and I should preface everything that I'm about to say
- 2:25Speaker 1: with legitimately, m rob, are there calls that are missed? Yes?
- 2:31Speaker 1: Are the officials do? They do an absolutely incredible job
- 2:33Speaker 1: in real time? There is no doubt in my mind
- 2:36Speaker 1: there's some of the best officials that we have in
- 2:38Speaker 1: professional sport across the board. We get to be armchair
- 2:42Speaker 1: quarterback in the moment because we're at home watching TV
- 2:46Speaker 1: seeing everything in slow mode, frame by frame. Can you
- 2:49Speaker 1: imagine having to make some of these decisions like this, No,
- 2:53Speaker 1: not having it. It's tough, man, it really is. Yes,
- 2:58Speaker 1: it is tough. I don't know how they do it,
- 3:01Speaker 1: but at the end of the day, they're paid to
- 3:02Speaker 1: do it, So I'm not gonna let the referees off
- 3:05Speaker 1: through too much. But bro, it was two times in
- 3:07Speaker 1: my career in the National Football League. I have some
- 3:10Speaker 1: times in college I e Penn State, Michigan, one second
- 3:13Speaker 1: left on the clock. All Mike rob fans, you know
- 3:15Speaker 1: what I'm talking about there, But I think it was
- 3:17Speaker 1: two thousand nine. Brett Farve, he was playing for the
- 3:19Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikings. Into the game last play, like a fifty
- 3:24Speaker 1: or pass or something like that. Brett Farve kind of
- 3:27Speaker 1: scrambled around and threw a bullet to the back of
- 3:29Speaker 1: the end zone to a dude that wasn't even on
- 3:32Speaker 1: the team that week. Greg Lewis, Okay, this dude was
- 3:35Speaker 1: like just chilling on the couch and where they brought
- 3:37Speaker 1: him in and then he ended up catching the game
- 3:39Speaker 1: when it passed the back of the end zone. And
- 3:41Speaker 1: then one of the ones that everybody knows in twelve
- 3:44Speaker 1: to fail. I'm not gonna say it's a fail Mary.
- 3:46Speaker 1: It was a hell Mary that worked go to take
- 3:49Speaker 1: card it over, like three or four Green Bay Packers
- 3:52Speaker 1: players made It was awesome. It was so dope. We
- 3:55Speaker 1: had the replacement rests that that particular game, and I
- 3:58Speaker 1: remember seeing one. I remember being on the sideline because
- 4:00Speaker 1: it was base personnel, so base personnel, I would fullback
- 4:04Speaker 1: wouldn't have been in the game. In the end of
- 4:05Speaker 1: the game, situations. But I remember one ref putting his
- 4:09Speaker 1: hands up as a touchdown and the other ref just
- 4:12Speaker 1: waving his hands like this, and I just said, you
- 4:15Speaker 1: know what, sprint to the end zone, get Golden up,
- 4:18Speaker 1: get him up out of here before they change their mind.
- 4:21Speaker 1: We won the game. It's pretty cool. It was awesome.
- 4:23Speaker 1: I actually have heard a lot of stories one of
- 4:25Speaker 1: your teammates, Evan Moore, and I know I brought him
- 4:28Speaker 1: up a couple of times. It's a good bunny of
- 4:29Speaker 1: mine was on your one of your teammates. At that point.
- 4:31Speaker 1: He actually gave me some intel that we used last
- 4:34Speaker 1: season on this podcast. It was all about Hail Mary's.
- 4:37Speaker 1: So I do encourage some of our fans maybe to
- 4:39Speaker 1: check out that episode going through the inner workings. Remind
- 4:42Speaker 1: me when you're back in the studio, I got a
- 4:44Speaker 1: question to ask you about that one. But the point is,
- 4:46Speaker 1: at least on this episode, when it comes down to
- 4:48Speaker 1: instant replay, we're gonna go through the historical timeline. We're
- 4:51Speaker 1: gonna give you some stats will tell you what we
- 4:53Speaker 1: think is about to come. But I do think it's
- 4:55Speaker 1: important to start at the beginning here ninety six. The
- 4:58Speaker 1: origin of this NFL director of Officiating, that's Art McNally,
- 5:02Speaker 1: first experimented with instant replay by bringing a video camera
- 5:05Speaker 1: to stop watch to a Dallas Buffalo game on Monday
- 5:08Speaker 1: Night football, trying to figure out how long a review
- 5:11Speaker 1: would actually delay the game, because I know this is
- 5:13Speaker 1: a big critique for people, right like you got, oh,
- 5:15Speaker 1: it's gonna extend the game and the whole deal, Like
- 5:17Speaker 1: at the end of the day, we're going to the
- 5:19Speaker 1: timeline and how it might not be as big a
- 5:21Speaker 1: factor as you think. He saw a miss call though
- 5:23Speaker 1: on to play with O. J. Simpson that would have
- 5:25Speaker 1: been corrected with a replay review, and he thought it
- 5:28Speaker 1: could benefit the NFL. Nineteen seventy eight, two years later,
- 5:32Speaker 1: the NFL actually tested instant replay during seven preseason games
- 5:35Speaker 1: broadcasted on National TV, beginning with the Philadelphia Miami Hall
- 5:40Speaker 1: of Fame game, but overall the performance of the camera
- 5:43Speaker 1: system and the cost to install a little prohibitive, so
- 5:46Speaker 1: they actually tabled everything for a few more years. Taking
- 5:48Speaker 1: the nineteen technology actually improved so much that the owner's
- 5:52Speaker 1: voted four and one to add instant replay in a
- 5:56Speaker 1: limited capacity for the eighties. Six season replay officials sat
- 6:00Speaker 1: in a booth with get this to VCRs if you
- 6:03Speaker 1: don't know what Yes, VCRs dude, what happened to us? Man?
- 6:07Speaker 1: We used to be young, right, Like I'm actually saying,
- 6:10Speaker 1: like there, I know that there's people like what's the VCR. Yes,
- 6:13Speaker 1: there are. I remember I used to have to record
- 6:17Speaker 1: young and Restless in the general hospital from my grandmother
- 6:19Speaker 1: when I was for your grandmother. Okay, yeah, sure, sure
- 6:24Speaker 1: if you say so. Um to think about that, like
- 6:26Speaker 1: when you had to like make a mixtape, remember that
- 6:29Speaker 1: you had to like hit plane record at the same
- 6:30Speaker 1: time playing the like it's the whole thing. But the
- 6:33Speaker 1: replay officials they had two VCRs there so they could
- 6:36Speaker 1: record and watch back plays. In that first season, there
- 6:39Speaker 1: were one point six reviews per game, with only ten
- 6:42Speaker 1: percent of the plays overturned. In just the third play
- 6:46Speaker 1: from scrimmage in six we actually got this right touchdown.
- 6:53Speaker 1: So the use of the instant replay on the third
- 6:56Speaker 1: play from scrimmage and the new year already the new
- 7:00Speaker 1: rule of the National Football leg you so by instant
- 7:03Speaker 1: replay official has given the Browns that touchdown on an
- 7:07Speaker 1: otherwise very confusing play. VCRs man, VCRs dude, it's like
- 7:13Speaker 1: tracks for us, you know what I mean? Like? Okay,
- 7:16Speaker 1: So despite that m ROB in n replay was actually
- 7:20Speaker 1: shelved by the league over concerns that it wasn't efficient
- 7:23Speaker 1: enough and that nine of the ninety overturned calls were
- 7:26Speaker 1: in fact incorrect. We then have to fast forward our VCR.
- 7:31Speaker 1: What the new system actually addressed, issues like delays penalizing
- 7:36Speaker 1: coaches with the charge time out on an incorrect challenge.
- 7:39Speaker 1: It clearly worked well because in two thousands, seven teams
- 7:42Speaker 1: voted thirty to two to keep instant replay permanently. Now,
- 7:47Speaker 1: that same year, team spent three hundred k a piece
- 7:50Speaker 1: to install high definition replay systems that were five times sharper.
- 7:55Speaker 1: The league designated a hub in New York where senior
- 7:57Speaker 1: officiating members could be in contact with officials on game day,
- 8:01Speaker 1: and then three years later, all game day decisions would
- 8:04Speaker 1: be made by dead CATD officials at Art McNally game
- 8:08Speaker 1: Day Central in New York and ROB. So there's an
- 8:10Speaker 1: evolution that's here that we're seeing through instant replay, how
- 8:13Speaker 1: it's installed. In your mind, is there something that could
- 8:17Speaker 1: be improved upon? When you watch these games and you
- 8:19Speaker 1: see what these three play officials are doing. I think
- 8:22Speaker 1: just having a sky judge, just having somebody that can
- 8:25Speaker 1: see egregious calls, can see things obviously missed obviously to
- 8:30Speaker 1: have something to do with the success of the play.
- 8:32Speaker 1: Just a sky just to be up there, just to
- 8:34Speaker 1: kind of have the referees back, to have the officials
- 8:36Speaker 1: on the fields back right if they miss something that
- 8:39Speaker 1: has something to do with the play, that sky just
- 8:41Speaker 1: can buzz in and be able to interrupt and be
- 8:43Speaker 1: able to get it right. Because at the end of
- 8:45Speaker 1: the day, we all want it right. I don't care
- 8:46Speaker 1: if you're on the side of the car where it
- 8:48Speaker 1: benefits you or you're on the side of the car
- 8:50Speaker 1: where it doesn't benefit you. Everybody wants to get the
- 8:53Speaker 1: call right. In this past spring, I was with the USFL.
- 8:56Speaker 1: I did some some of those Spring games, and it
- 8:59Speaker 1: was just interesting to hear the back and forth between
- 9:02Speaker 1: the referees right that their microphones were always open. As
- 9:05Speaker 1: a broadcaster and as a viewer, you're able to hear
- 9:08Speaker 1: kind of their thought processes and what they're going through right,
- 9:11Speaker 1: and even the reviewable plays Like it was just cool
- 9:14Speaker 1: to just hear that. First of all, their job isn't easy,
- 9:17Speaker 1: not at all, like the way that the speed at
- 9:19Speaker 1: which this game moves. Obviously, we're all fans of the
- 9:22Speaker 1: game too, so to stop yourself from watching the game
- 9:26Speaker 1: from an entertainment standpoint and watching the game from a
- 9:28Speaker 1: standpoint of actually officiating it is a very difficult thing
- 9:32Speaker 1: to do. Just talking to some of the rest of
- 9:33Speaker 1: that I talked to down they're being able to officiate
- 9:35Speaker 1: that game. But I think having a sky judge and
- 9:37Speaker 1: maybe having just audio opens that we are actively listening
- 9:41Speaker 1: to how our referees come to their conclusions. Yeah, I know.
- 9:44Speaker 1: I think that transparency is huge and it could be
- 9:46Speaker 1: really beneficial for fans who are very quick to point
- 9:50Speaker 1: to mistakes and feel like, no, no, how do you
- 9:52Speaker 1: mess that thing up? Like it's not that easy, And
- 9:54Speaker 1: dudes aren't just sitting back, you know, watching the games
- 9:57Speaker 1: like we do on our couch right like it is.
- 9:59Speaker 1: It is a very different vibe for a lot of
- 10:01Speaker 1: these games that I don't think people really think about
- 10:04Speaker 1: too much. But it is really important to explain at
- 10:07Speaker 1: least the exact process once replay and rob is actually
- 10:10Speaker 1: triggered in a game. So I mentioned the Art McNally
- 10:13Speaker 1: game Day Central location. They use brand new technology. It's
- 10:17Speaker 1: a new system and it was installed last year. It's
- 10:19Speaker 1: called Hawk Eyes Smart System. The Smart is an acronym
- 10:24Speaker 1: synchronized multi angle replay technology five times fast. It's no joke.
- 10:34Speaker 1: So they use the Hawkeyes Smart system to isolate the
- 10:38Speaker 1: best possible angles for a broadcast. The officials at the
- 10:42Speaker 1: game day Central location they communicate with the stadium replay
- 10:45Speaker 1: booth as well, and then after talking with other officials
- 10:48Speaker 1: on the field and the coaches, the head referee is
- 10:50Speaker 1: given a and we've seen a lot of these on
- 10:52Speaker 1: the sideline the Microsoft surface to review the play. At
- 10:56Speaker 1: that point, he communicates with senior designated members at the
- 10:59Speaker 1: game day Central location that Art McNally spot who makes
- 11:03Speaker 1: the final decision on review. So it's really multilayered approach, Emrod,
- 11:07Speaker 1: that you've made reference to. It can feel like forever
- 11:09Speaker 1: for a lot of fans, but the process is actually
- 11:13Speaker 1: really streamline. What I find fascinating and this we don't
- 11:16Speaker 1: talk nearly enough about this. I see this in every
- 11:18Speaker 1: single sport, em Rod. You're on the football field, reviews happening,
- 11:21Speaker 1: Officials are you know, gathered, there's players kind of huddled
- 11:24Speaker 1: around these dudes and at little little chirping back and forth.
- 11:27Speaker 1: What's actually being said in those moments, Like what's that vibe, Blake? Well,
- 11:31Speaker 1: first of all, it's one of those vibes where you're like,
- 11:34Speaker 1: do there's First of all, there's no way you threw
- 11:37Speaker 1: that flag on me, No way you threw that flag
- 11:40Speaker 1: on me, man. And then you're the funny part from
- 11:42Speaker 1: me because I've done this before. You're trying to get
- 11:44Speaker 1: the referee or the official to look at the big
- 11:48Speaker 1: screen with you so you can talk him through the
- 11:51Speaker 1: play and all that. I mean, he can't come to
- 11:53Speaker 1: a conclusion just looking at the big screen in the stadium.
- 11:56Speaker 1: But that's what all the fans are looking at. That's
- 11:58Speaker 1: what we're looking at, and we're basically saying, look, dude,
- 12:01Speaker 1: you got it wrong. You got it wrong. You know
- 12:03Speaker 1: what I'm saying. So we always have some quick, you know,
- 12:05Speaker 1: some fun banner back and forth with the referees, and
- 12:07Speaker 1: people don't realize, like coaches, especially the head coaches, they
- 12:11Speaker 1: could get you ready for the officials. Like I know
- 12:13Speaker 1: and every team I've been a part of every single week,
- 12:16Speaker 1: the head coach in the big team meeting room, he
- 12:19Speaker 1: you know, brings up the projector all of the referees
- 12:23Speaker 1: for that week would be up. They have their statistics
- 12:25Speaker 1: on the calls that they make, the calls that they
- 12:27Speaker 1: like to make. You know what calls do do they
- 12:29Speaker 1: make the most on the road. I mean all these
- 12:32Speaker 1: different types of statistics about the officials, and so when
- 12:35Speaker 1: players going to a game, you know exactly who you're
- 12:38Speaker 1: dealing with. I remember playing with your sherman for a
- 12:40Speaker 1: few years out there in Seattle, and there were always
- 12:42Speaker 1: times where on the sideline Pete would have to remind him,
- 12:45Speaker 1: look such and such is the back judge. Understand that
- 12:49Speaker 1: he's watching you. There's no need in yelling at the
- 12:52Speaker 1: white head. There's no need in yelling at another official.
- 12:55Speaker 1: This is the guy watching you, and he calls a
- 12:57Speaker 1: lot of passive affairs, and so maybe you don't get
- 12:59Speaker 1: his hands e today and things like that. It's just
- 13:01Speaker 1: great information to have, and it gives you an advantage
- 13:04Speaker 1: on game that I'm actually mad because we did an
- 13:06Speaker 1: episode you and I this season on head coaches and
- 13:08Speaker 1: what they do. You never brought that up in that episode.
- 13:10Speaker 1: Come on, manmo in the Champion here. I know, well,
- 13:14Speaker 1: you know what that's not my fault, Yams, that's not
- 13:17Speaker 1: my fault. That's your fault. I know you want to
- 13:19Speaker 1: say that's my fault, but that's your far it's your job,
- 13:22Speaker 1: like psychologically, get into my right and put all of
- 13:26Speaker 1: those stories out. Man, he finally did it on this episode.
- 13:28Speaker 1: No we we I was that's a good way to
- 13:30Speaker 1: spend it. I was saving something for a little later
- 13:33Speaker 1: date in time. You know what's fascinating about what you
- 13:35Speaker 1: just described. In other sports, I know they do this,
- 13:37Speaker 1: and I think the same could be said for football.
- 13:40Speaker 1: Don't you use that replay time as almost like an
- 13:42Speaker 1: extra time out? Oh? Yes, are you kidding? Made coaches
- 13:46Speaker 1: are coaching up like crazy. Half the time, you already
- 13:49Speaker 1: know what the result of the call is gonna be,
- 13:52Speaker 1: and you're coaching up like if it was an interception,
- 13:55Speaker 1: and you know, everybody's like, all, that wasn't an interception.
- 13:57Speaker 1: That wasn't an interception. Defense coordinated to see it. They
- 14:00Speaker 1: called out, hey man, look that was a pick. Man,
- 14:03Speaker 1: y'all gonna get on off the field now, the offense
- 14:05Speaker 1: coach and start coaching their guys up. I mean, yeah,
- 14:08Speaker 1: it's a pseudo time, but I remember camp Chancellor telling
- 14:11Speaker 1: me we were playing in the NFC Championship game. We
- 14:13Speaker 1: were playing in San Francisco for the Nintors, who was
- 14:15Speaker 1: the team that I was with before the Seattle Seahawks
- 14:18Speaker 1: in that big NFC championship game before the Super Bowl
- 14:20Speaker 1: a year we won the Super Bowl. And Cam hit
- 14:23Speaker 1: Vernon Davis so hard, Bro, Like I think I'm asked,
- 14:26Speaker 1: told the story on this podcast before. But he hit
- 14:29Speaker 1: Vernon so hard it was legal. It was with his shoulder.
- 14:33Speaker 1: In everything I think you can if you look back
- 14:35Speaker 1: to you're gonna see that hit. That was all over
- 14:38Speaker 1: the highlights he knocked. He hit Vernon so hard, vernon
- 14:42Speaker 1: pants got twisted and ripped. I ain't never seen nothing
- 14:45Speaker 1: like that. He hit it with his shoulder and his
- 14:47Speaker 1: pants got ripped. To think about that, and then the
- 14:49Speaker 1: referee waited like five seconds and then through the flag
- 14:53Speaker 1: and Cam was like, man, Man, were you talking about
- 14:55Speaker 1: what you're talking about? And um, I said Cham. When
- 14:58Speaker 1: Cam got back to the sideline, I said, Cam, what
- 15:00Speaker 1: the hell happened? Man? What just what did he say
- 15:02Speaker 1: to you? He said, Bro? I said, why did you
- 15:05Speaker 1: throw the flag in the referee? I never forget Camp
- 15:07Speaker 1: telling me he said. The referee said, Bro, that looked
- 15:11Speaker 1: way too violent. I said what Camp said? Yeah, man,
- 15:16Speaker 1: he said it looked too violent. This is football, right,
- 15:18Speaker 1: And we had a moment on the sideline. It was
- 15:20Speaker 1: pretty cool. But it just goes to it, man, referees
- 15:24Speaker 1: are human too. Things look very violent. You just said, Oh,
- 15:27Speaker 1: something had to have happened. That's why we need this guy, judge.
- 15:30Speaker 1: That's why we like that command center to help our
- 15:32Speaker 1: guys out on the football field. Yeah. I know, I'm
- 15:35Speaker 1: with you there, just that extra set of eyes. One
- 15:37Speaker 1: other note on the dialogue that's happening. Do certain guys
- 15:42Speaker 1: how do I put this, have a reputation and maybe
- 15:46Speaker 1: those experiences with officials have them thinking differently, like sure, Leash,
- 15:53Speaker 1: do you know what I mean? Uh? Yeah, I know
- 15:56Speaker 1: exactly what you mean. Um, what's my guy? Man? He
- 16:01Speaker 1: used to play for the Arizona car knows what the
- 16:03Speaker 1: Florida State. I hated playing a dot Knell Docket that's
- 16:08Speaker 1: his name deep as a tackle. Oh, I hated playing
- 16:11Speaker 1: that dude. I hated playing that dude. Every time I
- 16:16Speaker 1: encountered him, I felt like it was a dirty play
- 16:20Speaker 1: every time I went up against him. I'm looking at
- 16:23Speaker 1: the rough flight. And again, I played fullback and running
- 16:25Speaker 1: back sometimes, so my encounters were him were minimal. But
- 16:29Speaker 1: I hated playing that dude, and I would always go
- 16:32Speaker 1: to the ref every single place I do. He's doing
- 16:34Speaker 1: something every single play. It's one of those guys that
- 16:37Speaker 1: you hate playing against what you love when he's on
- 16:39Speaker 1: your team. That's one of those guys that I would
- 16:42Speaker 1: always go to the referee. And but like, man, keep
- 16:44Speaker 1: your eyes on that dude. Love shout off to Donell Doc.
- 16:46Speaker 1: I don't know what he's doing in life now, but
- 16:48Speaker 1: he was kind of like my neighbor in Arizona want
- 16:50Speaker 1: to live there, shouting He's probably like I appreciate that.
- 16:53Speaker 1: I like that people were thinking about me in those terms.
- 16:56Speaker 1: All Right, we're gonna continue this conversation because I do
- 16:58Speaker 1: think it's important to consider what's happening in New York
- 17:02Speaker 1: when a lot of these plays are getting reviewed and
- 17:05Speaker 1: you men shin m rob your experiences listening to some
- 17:08Speaker 1: of these conversations with that is actually, like, there's so
- 17:11Speaker 1: many things that these officials are responsible for, confirming scores, turnovers,
- 17:16Speaker 1: initiating reviews under two minutes during both halves and obviously
- 17:19Speaker 1: over time. In addition, they're analyzing game decisions. Think about this.
- 17:22Speaker 1: Before every single play, they're verifying the clock status at
- 17:27Speaker 1: the beginning and the end of every play, confirming the
- 17:29Speaker 1: correct number of players on the field at the snap.
- 17:32Speaker 1: Every time I see too many men on the field,
- 17:34Speaker 1: I'm always like, how did you figure that out? Like,
- 17:37Speaker 1: I'm sitting there watching going, dude like you, I'm not
- 17:40Speaker 1: great with numbers, but I'm sitting there. I'd be like
- 17:42Speaker 1: one to you, like on the finger, old school counting.
- 17:45Speaker 1: You're not going, you wouldn't count. Mike. What happens is
- 17:47Speaker 1: when you played this game, will see this game feeling enough?
- 17:50Speaker 1: You just feel it. You like, dude, there's too many
- 17:53Speaker 1: guys that line right there, there's just too many secondary players.
- 17:58Speaker 1: You just feel it. Man, Yeah, best defense you went
- 18:00Speaker 1: up against. I'm guaranteeing like there was eleven dudes on
- 18:02Speaker 1: the field and it felt like there was fifteen. And
- 18:04Speaker 1: you just kept looking around like it feels they don't
- 18:06Speaker 1: feel like there's any windows for me. There's not enough holes.
- 18:09Speaker 1: The whole thing. I get it all right. When we
- 18:11Speaker 1: come back, we're gonna take you through some of the
- 18:13Speaker 1: numbers behind instant replay, which teams are doing it the
- 18:16Speaker 1: most successfully, and actually how often calls are being overturned.
- 18:20Speaker 1: That's coming up next on the NFL Explain podcast. All right,
- 18:30Speaker 1: welcome back to the NFL Explained podcasts. Mike Yam and
- 18:32Speaker 1: Rob with you. And I think I went this whole
- 18:35Speaker 1: week and I did not get someone siding into my
- 18:38Speaker 1: d M s with a question, which is weird. Yeah,
- 18:41Speaker 1: like we're slacking here because I'm as e Proba will
- 18:44Speaker 1: tell you, I get legit excited when we get questions
- 18:46Speaker 1: for our mail bag episode. So once again, if you're
- 18:49Speaker 1: checking this out on our YouTube, which by the way,
- 18:51Speaker 1: I just found out before we started rolling that our
- 18:53Speaker 1: shows are now available visually as well as you can
- 18:57Speaker 1: obviously just listen to the audio. I'm much better looking
- 18:59Speaker 1: on in podcast form than YouTube form. But um, it's
- 19:03Speaker 1: you know, the the imagination, you know, the whole mind. No,
- 19:06Speaker 1: you need to go to YouTube and check it out
- 19:08Speaker 1: because anytime yeams get embarrassed or whatever, you can see
- 19:12Speaker 1: the sweat happening on his hairline. So also the same
- 19:17Speaker 1: thing happens to me too, so you know it takes
- 19:19Speaker 1: one to know where. Yeah, no, no, the sweat I
- 19:21Speaker 1: always and I do. You know, I beat up pretty easily.
- 19:25Speaker 1: But you're right that that does happen, you know, Just
- 19:27Speaker 1: because now I know we're on YouTube, I'm gonna ask
- 19:29Speaker 1: our makeup people if they can come and do touch
- 19:32Speaker 1: ups and to make sure that whatever thing's okay. You
- 19:35Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. Um, But in all sincerity, we
- 19:37Speaker 1: do actually appreciate the questions that we have been getting.
- 19:40Speaker 1: I swear to you if you do DM me or
- 19:42Speaker 1: m Rob really just me. I promise I screenshot everything,
- 19:45Speaker 1: I send it to our crew. I put it on
- 19:47Speaker 1: a text thread. There's emojis firing all over the place.
- 19:50Speaker 1: I get hyped up and Rob gets hyped up, and
- 19:53Speaker 1: I promise we will get to some of those shows.
- 19:55Speaker 1: By the way, we made a whole episode, not even
- 19:58Speaker 1: just for the mail bag episode. We made a whole
- 19:59Speaker 1: episode based off of one of those questions. So we'd
- 20:01Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can find us on
- 20:04Speaker 1: social media at my underscore or yam at real mic
- 20:07Speaker 1: Rob on Twitter. All right, let's get back to the
- 20:09Speaker 1: instant replay stuff. How often it's successful? Because I think
- 20:12Speaker 1: that's the question that everyone is thinking about. So between
- 20:15Speaker 1: nineteen eighty six, it was just a kid. In nine,
- 20:19Speaker 1: during the first iteration of instant replay, there were an
- 20:22Speaker 1: average of two point two plays reviewed per game, but
- 20:25Speaker 1: reversals only happened twelve point six percent at the time.
- 20:29Speaker 1: During those days, coaches weren't actually allowed to challenge that change.
- 20:33Speaker 1: Under the current iteration of instant replay, so since nineteen
- 20:36Speaker 1: ninety nine, there's been an average of one point three
- 20:38Speaker 1: plays per game challenge and thirty nine percent of the
- 20:42Speaker 1: plays have been reversed, So that is a big jump
- 20:44Speaker 1: in terms of those reversals. In nine nine nine, a
- 20:47Speaker 1: total of one ninety five plays were reviewed, fifty seven
- 20:51Speaker 1: reverse at a rate of twenty nine percent. But in
- 20:54Speaker 1: one check this out, two hundred and seventy nine plays
- 20:58Speaker 1: were reviewed, a hundred and fifty eight were reversed. That's
- 21:01Speaker 1: a seven percent rate of change, highest ever highest THATFFROM. Yeah,
- 21:07Speaker 1: most review plays past completion, My lord, we've all watched
- 21:12Speaker 1: enough football games to know that they checked those things
- 21:14Speaker 1: out past incompletion. You can check that box as well
- 21:17Speaker 1: and run or breaking the plant like that. Totally makes
- 21:20Speaker 1: sense to me on those scenarios. Going back to what
- 21:22Speaker 1: we were talking about though, at the top of some
- 21:24Speaker 1: of the technology. Is there something emrod that you would
- 21:27Speaker 1: point to as to why we're seeing the reversal change
- 21:31Speaker 1: so significantly, I would point to just the technology from
- 21:35Speaker 1: the television that from the technic quality of the images. Yeah,
- 21:38Speaker 1: the quality of the images. I mean you could right
- 21:42Speaker 1: now they can zoom into that sideline shot when a
- 21:45Speaker 1: guy's running on the sideline and you can see whether
- 21:48Speaker 1: it's a blade or two of grass in between his
- 21:52Speaker 1: cleat in the white line in We just weren't able
- 21:56Speaker 1: to see that, right in nineteen ninet. We just weren't
- 21:59Speaker 1: able to see those types of things. And I think
- 22:02Speaker 1: as the quality of the picture continues to get ramped up,
- 22:05Speaker 1: I think you'll see even more calls get overturned because
- 22:09Speaker 1: the game moves so fast, right, and so for an
- 22:13Speaker 1: referee or to have an opportunity or a fan for
- 22:15Speaker 1: that matter, to have an opportunity to see this game
- 22:18Speaker 1: slowed down frame by frame, that's truly when you can
- 22:21Speaker 1: get to the essence of you know, what's causing an issue,
- 22:25Speaker 1: or what a penalty is, or things like that. I
- 22:27Speaker 1: do think it's interesting that we still don't know where
- 22:30Speaker 1: it catches. I played football all my damn life Mike,
- 22:33Speaker 1: and I still don't know where to catch out. I
- 22:35Speaker 1: still don't I know from the letter of the law
- 22:37Speaker 1: what it catches, but from watching it. To me is
- 22:41Speaker 1: hard because at the end of the day, I can
- 22:43Speaker 1: go out to any park in America, in any city
- 22:46Speaker 1: and see kids making some crazy catches that may look
- 22:50Speaker 1: like an incomplete past, but our truly catches because it
- 22:53Speaker 1: catches a feet, it has a feel to it. So
- 22:55Speaker 1: I don't know, man, I don't know. Just to replace
- 22:57Speaker 1: some sometimes it's made it harder on me to determine
- 23:00Speaker 1: what the hell is going on out there. You and
- 23:02Speaker 1: I both know that someone's gonna DM you and go
- 23:04Speaker 1: what is it catch? For the mont episode? That's what
- 23:06Speaker 1: they're gonna say, all right, Welcome back to the NFL
- 23:15Speaker 1: Explained podcasts. Mike, yam m ROB with you. I'm with
- 23:19Speaker 1: you on those camera angles and the quality. And here's
- 23:22Speaker 1: the best thing that I can say about it. We
- 23:24Speaker 1: all watched these documentaries on sports m ROB from decades ago,
- 23:28Speaker 1: and we watched them back, whether it's you know, the
- 23:30Speaker 1: old school NFL film stuff, stuff at the NBA, Major
- 23:33Speaker 1: League Baseball, like think about I was watching something the
- 23:37Speaker 1: other day and said, oh, my god, Like I didn't
- 23:39Speaker 1: know how bad it was for us to watch sports
- 23:43Speaker 1: because now we just take for granted, you know, got
- 23:45Speaker 1: h D, the oh lad TV, the whole thing, right,
- 23:48Speaker 1: Like I don't even know if I'm using the right terminology,
- 23:50Speaker 1: but you know what I'm saying, Like we got all
- 23:52Speaker 1: this like great technology, and when I flash back and go,
- 23:55Speaker 1: how did we even know who the hell was on
- 23:56Speaker 1: the field, Like everything seems so blurry, like quality was
- 23:59Speaker 1: so bad. So to me it makes so much more sense,
- 24:01Speaker 1: like some of these video angles and the quality of
- 24:03Speaker 1: the picture. I'm like, oh my god, I'm watching Thursday
- 24:05Speaker 1: I Football. I'm private. I'm thinking myself, man, like think
- 24:08Speaker 1: about this, like just crazy, man, it is. WiFi is
- 24:13Speaker 1: good exactly. I even um I said earlier. I did
- 24:18Speaker 1: some of the USFL football games this past spring. They
- 24:21Speaker 1: even have a drone that has even more unique angles
- 24:25Speaker 1: because the drone is able to kind of get in there,
- 24:27Speaker 1: you know, on player level. So again, I just think
- 24:30Speaker 1: as technology grows, will continue to again try to get
- 24:34Speaker 1: things right. That's the ultimate goal in our sport, getting
- 24:37Speaker 1: things right. And as technology goes, I think we'll continue
- 24:40Speaker 1: down that path. Do you think the game's over officiated.
- 24:42Speaker 1: Uh yeah, times I do. To me, especially like with
- 24:46Speaker 1: this rough and the pastor thing. You know, we can
- 24:48Speaker 1: have that discussion on subjective calls and you know, rough
- 24:52Speaker 1: and a pastor wood is roughing, you know, to each
- 24:54Speaker 1: individual and things like that. To me, it is a
- 24:57Speaker 1: subjective thing. But I know, quarterbacks are quarterbacks and with
- 25:02Speaker 1: dry fans, you know, and they're the post the boys
- 25:06Speaker 1: of the league and things like that. But to me,
- 25:08Speaker 1: they're football players, and these calls are literally determining games.
- 25:14Speaker 1: And we talk about the parody in the National Football
- 25:16Speaker 1: League and how each week we don't know who's gonna win,
- 25:19Speaker 1: and each year there could be a new Super Bowl champion,
- 25:21Speaker 1: and we love it. We love it. I love that
- 25:23Speaker 1: fact about our league. But if that is the case,
- 25:26Speaker 1: if that truly is the case, then that means officiating.
- 25:30Speaker 1: The calls have to be right. And at the end
- 25:33Speaker 1: of the day, when you're you put somebody at the
- 25:36Speaker 1: beginning of the season say we want to protect quarterbacks
- 25:38Speaker 1: and rough and the passion is going to be, you know,
- 25:40Speaker 1: a call of emphasis, and these calls are determining games. Again, Mike,
- 25:44Speaker 1: I was a role player of my entire career too
- 25:47Speaker 1: many losses. I'm one of the first ones to go
- 25:50Speaker 1: at the end of the day, I don't necessarily believe
- 25:52Speaker 1: in that. So yeah, this game can be over efficiated.
- 25:55Speaker 1: You know. I'm with you. And and get it back
- 25:56Speaker 1: on the instant replay bandwagon for a second, because I
- 25:59Speaker 1: think one of the other facets of this conversation is
- 26:02Speaker 1: how long do these replays actually take? And I think
- 26:05Speaker 1: the number will probably surprise people. And let me just
- 26:08Speaker 1: say this, like, I don't think people understand. You know,
- 26:11Speaker 1: what's it like to be in twenty seconds of silence?
- 26:14Speaker 1: Like it just and it feels like a long time.
- 26:18Speaker 1: So when you're watching to make sure you're dude, and
- 26:21Speaker 1: that touchdown two feet in in the end, zon't like
- 26:24Speaker 1: that feels excruciating. But in reality, the numbers aren't as
- 26:27Speaker 1: crazy as you think because at its lowest point in
- 26:31Speaker 1: the average replay was taking one minute and forty four
- 26:34Speaker 1: seconds last season. The average to go up a minute,
- 26:37Speaker 1: right last average last season two minutes and twenty three seconds.
- 26:40Speaker 1: So the fan who's waiting still like to twenty three
- 26:44Speaker 1: man like it. It's not as crazy as you think.
- 26:46Speaker 1: To get it right, the teams that have been most
- 26:48Speaker 1: successful since ninety nine at overturning calls, Dallas Cowboys forty
- 26:52Speaker 1: point one percent at a time, the Eagles at forty
- 26:55Speaker 1: six point six percent of the time. So you're starting
- 26:58Speaker 1: to say to yourself, like, why is that why those
- 27:00Speaker 1: two teams, Well, here we go. Those two squads are
- 27:03Speaker 1: number one and number three when it comes to playing
- 27:06Speaker 1: primetime games. Since so you're saying, all right, well, why
- 27:10Speaker 1: is that important? Here's what I can tell you, and
- 27:12Speaker 1: I've experienced this. It's important because primetime games have way
- 27:17Speaker 1: more cameras than the games that you're seeing on Sunday afternoon,
- 27:20Speaker 1: sometimes as many as four times the amount. And I
- 27:24Speaker 1: know that sounds crazy, m Rob. You've been in this
- 27:26Speaker 1: business in a long time, just like I have. Like
- 27:28Speaker 1: if you go to a prime time game and you
- 27:30Speaker 1: see the production trucks that are out there, and you
- 27:32Speaker 1: know the amount of cameras has a lot of tools
- 27:34Speaker 1: in the tools shifts were for these crews. So more cameras,
- 27:39Speaker 1: more eyes, better angles, more opportunity to reverse calls. Those
- 27:43Speaker 1: camera angles specifically, that is an opportunity for plays to
- 27:47Speaker 1: get overturned and really to get the perfect call as
- 27:50Speaker 1: much as you want. So I want to mention a
- 27:52Speaker 1: few of the famous instances of instant replay. Music City
- 27:56Speaker 1: Miracle replay able to confirm the wild lateral that lad
- 27:59Speaker 1: the Titans to beat the Bills in that was actually
- 28:02Speaker 1: the first year that we've played came back the des
- 28:05Speaker 1: Bryant or non catch, depending if you're Pakistan. It's kind
- 28:09Speaker 1: of like that film Mary you were talking about a
- 28:11Speaker 1: little bit before, and obviously went as Bryant scored that
- 28:14Speaker 1: go ahead touchdown and Rob, I know you mentioned film Mary.
- 28:17Speaker 1: Anything else that comes to mind with some of these
- 28:18Speaker 1: three plays and some of those moments for you. I mean,
- 28:21Speaker 1: obviously the Megatron one, I think he was in Chicago.
- 28:24Speaker 1: I think when he was getting up off the ground,
- 28:26Speaker 1: it was obvious catch to me. But it just seems
- 28:28Speaker 1: like some of the some of the makers of our
- 28:30Speaker 1: game had never seen a human being do anything that great.
- 28:34Speaker 1: But I mean, to me, you have to go to
- 28:36Speaker 1: that Ram Saints two thousand and eighteen NFC Championship game.
- 28:39Speaker 1: Right to me, that was the most egregious no call
- 28:42Speaker 1: that should have been passed, an ofference that didn't get called,
- 28:46Speaker 1: there was no replay for that was the most egregious
- 28:49Speaker 1: one of them all. If our listeners remember Robie Coleman
- 28:52Speaker 1: Nickel Roby Coleman, the defensive back for the Rams, ended
- 28:56Speaker 1: up hitting the Saints Tommy Lee Lewis, and I mean
- 28:59Speaker 1: should have been called. It was passing affairs. It was
- 29:01Speaker 1: Agreedi just looked like the referee was about to throw
- 29:03Speaker 1: the flag and then he didn't. Then we started questioning
- 29:07Speaker 1: how the officials actually formed their team for playoffs. It
- 29:10Speaker 1: was a whole big mess. You can go back to
- 29:12Speaker 1: some of the stories back then. But again to me,
- 29:15Speaker 1: the past and inference call again, another subjective call being
- 29:19Speaker 1: in question, and again to me, a sky judge would
- 29:21Speaker 1: have helped that. Somebody that you said, wor wold World
- 29:24Speaker 1: World War WOA. Come on, this is about the game,
- 29:26Speaker 1: the integrity of our game. We cannot let this play
- 29:29Speaker 1: move on without this play being called. So yeah, I
- 29:31Speaker 1: think that thousand eighteen NFC Championship game was probably the
- 29:35Speaker 1: one that comes to mind the most. And my just
- 29:38Speaker 1: thirteen of eighty one passing inference challenges were successful in
- 29:42Speaker 1: twenty nineteen. So it was scrapped in and they're trying
- 29:46Speaker 1: to figure out a process to make subjective calls better
- 29:50Speaker 1: because again at the end of the day, there's no
- 29:54Speaker 1: there's no line of demarcation on some of these subjective
- 29:57Speaker 1: calls where referee could just say, yeah, they met all
- 30:00Speaker 1: of these. So this is why we made the call.
- 30:02Speaker 1: That comes down to the opinion of the referee. So
- 30:05Speaker 1: it's that in mind, do you You and I were
- 30:08Speaker 1: talking off fair before we started recording, and I had
- 30:10Speaker 1: said to you, hey, like, do you think we get
- 30:12Speaker 1: to a point where every play gets reviewed? And I
- 30:15Speaker 1: think you and I are probably on the same page
- 30:16Speaker 1: that the answer is yes. After hearing the number that
- 30:19Speaker 1: you just threw out there, I'm almost wondering, like, hey, man,
- 30:22Speaker 1: like that might be a little further out than I
- 30:24Speaker 1: had thought. Like I thought maybe the end of the decade.
- 30:27Speaker 1: Maybe it's longer. I don't know. Yeah, well, I look
- 30:29Speaker 1: at it like this, like and I think, um, I
- 30:32Speaker 1: was at some owners meeting some years ago and Bill
- 30:34Speaker 1: Belichick was talking about this, and this is not something
- 30:36Speaker 1: I'm breaking or anything. We all know what's going on.
- 30:39Speaker 1: He just said, yes, keep the number of challenges at
- 30:42Speaker 1: a limited number, two or three, whatever we decide, but
- 30:45Speaker 1: make any play challengeable. And what you're challenging has to
- 30:50Speaker 1: have something to do with the success of the play,
- 30:53Speaker 1: and to me, that would limit the length of some
- 30:55Speaker 1: of these challenges, but it would also give coaches a
- 30:58Speaker 1: tool in their tool box where they feel that they've
- 31:01Speaker 1: been sliding on a particular call because of the parody,
- 31:03Speaker 1: because of how close these teams are, they can use
- 31:07Speaker 1: their tools, their toolbox to potentially get the right call.
- 31:10Speaker 1: I think that's something we should look at. So I
- 31:12Speaker 1: told you this story, and I don't know how much
- 31:14Speaker 1: I told you before. Sometimes I just say I'll save
- 31:16Speaker 1: it for air. You say the same thing. I used
- 31:18Speaker 1: to work on a project in virtual reality around the NFL.
- 31:22Speaker 1: I did that for a couple of seasons and it
- 31:24Speaker 1: wasn't ready for prime time yet. When I think about
- 31:27Speaker 1: the image quality that we get just watching normal TV,
- 31:30Speaker 1: but m ROB, I actually think in a lot of
- 31:31Speaker 1: ways that's the future of instant replay, because like when
- 31:34Speaker 1: you get the headset on or even a R which
- 31:37Speaker 1: is augmented reality, like you put those headsets on, man,
- 31:39Speaker 1: Like if I turned to my right, I see exactly
- 31:42Speaker 1: what everyone sees as if I was actually at the game.
- 31:44Speaker 1: And I think if the quality of the cameras get better,
- 31:47Speaker 1: especially that drone one or the sky cam that's coming
- 31:49Speaker 1: through like em rob. You literally can get every single
- 31:53Speaker 1: angle of every single play, like I would imagine that
- 31:56Speaker 1: has got to be where it goes, probably in the
- 31:58Speaker 1: next I don't know, five ten years. Oh, that would
- 32:01Speaker 1: be interesting right there. Games players, I don't know if
- 32:05Speaker 1: I'm with players would like that. I mean, just just
- 32:07Speaker 1: getting everything everything replay, everything is all camera again, the
- 32:12Speaker 1: goal is to get it right. If the goal is
- 32:14Speaker 1: to get it right, which it is, I would vote
- 32:17Speaker 1: for that. I would be in favor of that. Do
- 32:19Speaker 1: the players ever have conversations about what they want or
- 32:21Speaker 1: don't want? Um like informal do Most guys don't. They
- 32:25Speaker 1: don't like replay like I would imagine skill, but like
- 32:27Speaker 1: the wide receivers want. Big guys don't care. Big guys
- 32:33Speaker 1: don't care. I mean, and I was a runner, so
- 32:35Speaker 1: a lot of the runners that I've talked to over
- 32:37Speaker 1: the years, we're always fighting for extra yards and they
- 32:40Speaker 1: hate sometimes the spots of the you know where the
- 32:44Speaker 1: spots are and where officials car runners down. Again, in
- 32:47Speaker 1: the USFL, they put a computer chip in the ball
- 32:50Speaker 1: so you never had to guess where the ball went
- 32:52Speaker 1: out of bound. You never had to guess exactly, Hawf
- 32:55Speaker 1: offers down was I think more technology like that, it's coming.
- 32:57Speaker 1: That's awesome, you know, I think about that like that
- 33:00Speaker 1: solves a lot of issues. Put up that virtual wall
- 33:04Speaker 1: around the field, and soon as that ball goes over,
- 33:07Speaker 1: like you know, it's out. At that point, technology rules
- 33:10Speaker 1: the world. That's why the Selfie Museum is thriving. Yes,
- 33:13Speaker 1: that's exactly the reason why. I know I made reference
- 33:16Speaker 1: to it a little bit earlier. And that's the idea
- 33:18Speaker 1: of getting into our d m s. If you got
- 33:20Speaker 1: a question don't know who to ask, we got you
- 33:23Speaker 1: covered at Real Bike Rob at Mike Underscore. Yeah, if
- 33:27Speaker 1: you're new to the podcast, tell a friend, tell a friend,
- 33:29Speaker 1: hop a board, hop a board, follow us wherever you
- 33:32Speaker 1: get your podcasts and m Rob. I've sprinkled this in
- 33:34Speaker 1: throughout the course of the show. I'm actually legit excited
- 33:36Speaker 1: about this. We are we're now, our faces are out there.
- 33:39Speaker 1: It's you can find us on the NFL YouTube channel.
- 33:43Speaker 1: I had heard rumblings that this might happen, m Rob.
- 33:45Speaker 1: The other rumbling that I heard is me and you
- 33:47Speaker 1: we're getting our own show that's separate from NFL explained. Yeah,
- 33:51Speaker 1: it's gonna be a huge, huge thing. Details for real, man,
- 33:57Speaker 1: I'm getting pumped up. Run to California right now. Yeah. Well,
- 34:01Speaker 1: you know, not to make you disappointed, but you know
- 34:04Speaker 1: how they say, like speak things in to existence. That's
- 34:06Speaker 1: what I was doing. So that's what it's not. A
- 34:10Speaker 1: vision board at home. Don't actually have always legitimately appreciate
- 34:15Speaker 1: you guys checking us out. It's instant replaying, exploited