Teams have little confidence in in-game decisions that come from 345 Park Avenue
Over the past 10 years or so, the NFL has systematically secured more and more control over key decisions made, or not made, during games. And that has put even more responsibility on the league office to make the right decisions, all the time.
The problem is that, in the opinion of plenty of people working for the teams, the league isn't making the right decisions. Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson should have been ejected on Monday night for shoving an official. 49ers tackle Trent Williams should have been ejected on Thursday night for punching an opponent.
The situation is diminishing the confidence that the teams have in the process. And it's not just an issue of making good real-time decisions about ejections. As explained earlier this week on the Wednesday edition of #PFTPM, there have been early-season instances of, once again, the clear-and-obvious/"50 drunks in a bar" standard not being used when activating replay review.
The league centralized replay review to ensure that the correct standard would be applied consistently, and that the temptation of the game-site referees to officiate the play from scratch would be resisted. From time to time, the standard takes a back seat to what the person making the decision at the league's command center thinks happened.
That's another factor that continues to rankle coaches and executives throughout the league. Who's making these decisions? Who's in the room when these decisions are being made? Who's influencing those who are making these decisions?
There are reasons to believe that firewall between the NFL's business interests and the integrity of the game has crumbled. As one team executive pointed out this week, how is it an affront to the integrity of the game for a player betting on some other sport from his phone in the locker room but not an issue when the decisions being made by the league office during games are all over the place?
There's an easy solution for all of this. Get the calls right. Apply the "clear and obvious" standard in replay review. Eject players who should be ejected. And don't try to justify it after the fact with obvious word salads and gaslightings.
Just get it right. The process is fine if they get it right. If they don't get it right, the natural result will be a high amount of suspicion regarding the process.
