New York Giants: How new pass interference ruling affects G-Men in 2019
By Ed Stein
The NFL rules committee made a major change this week. All pass plays can be challenged by coaches for pass interference. This change will hurt the New York Giants corners.
New York Giants fans, I was a high school football referee and I’m telling you (as any other football official will) that there are penalties on every play. Offensive linemen hold as do linebackers covering running backs. Linemen also don’t necessarily lineup a yard off the ball. Quarterbacks quick count and maybe everyone on offense isn’t set for a full second. Receivers and defenders bump and hand-fight each other. That is the game.
A flag can be thrown on every play. If there was the ability to iso-cam every player on every play, people would see all sorts of penalties. The key is how much did the infraction affect the play. Is the ref going to call illegal use of the hands on the right corner when he gives a parting shove to the wideout six yards from the line of scrimmage when there was a pitchout to the opposite side? No.
That’s why I’m not a fan of the new pass interference replay rule. I understand after the Rams, Saints debacle in January’s NFC Championship Game why the change was enacted. The Rams committed an egregious pass interference penalty which likely cost New Orleans the game. Watching in real time as the play happened, I didn’t see a penalty on Nickell Robey-Coleman either. It wasn’t until FOX showed the replay that we all saw it.
the rule change means that any pass play can now be reviewed for pass interference whether or not it was initially called. In effect, a coach could call a penalty. For example, if no penalty was called on a given play, but a coach thinks it should have, he can challenge the no call. Should the referee (after umpteen viewings on a surface pro) agree with the coach, then a penalty will be called.
One of the byproducts of this change is that if an official has any doubt whether or not pass interference happened, the yellow flag will come out. CYA. Remember to overturn a call (or non-call in some cases), there must be indisputable evidence.
Initially, I see this rule change as detrimental to the New York Giants, for several reasons.