The NFL has instant replay and still gets calls wrong regularly.
Some things are reviewable, others aren’t, and picking and choosing means we get horrendous mistakes like Monday night.
The Philadelphia Eagles had a right to be mad in the fourth quarter of their 32-21 loss to the Washington Commanders. Washington linebacker Jamin Davis grabbed Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert‘s facemask and dragged him down by it. It wasn’t just a penalty, it was blatant. Yet, the officials never saw it. As Goedert was getting pulled down by his facemask, which everyone could easily instantly see on replay, he fumbled the ball. Washington recovered.
This was no judgment call. This is a really bad miss by officials.
Explain why that shouldn’t be reviewable?
That happened with a little more than nine minutes left and Washington leading 23-21. The Eagles had just picked off Commanders quarterback Taylor Heinicke and had some momentum. Then Davis yanked down on Goedert’s facemask and got away with it. Instead of a 15-yard penalty and the Eagles keeping the ball, the Commanders got it back. Washington didn’t move it at all but got a 55-yard field goal that they should never have had.
Because facemask penalties can’t be reviewed, there was nothing that could be done. The NFL has resisted expanding replay, but it might make sense to include personal fouls at least. It would have made a big difference at a key moment on Monday night.
In a fair world, the play could have been reviewed and the right call would have been made. But the NFL doesn’t allow for that, even with the technology to do it.
