Report: Coaches pushing for sky judge, league office is skeptical

[ROD-BOT]

Report: Coaches pushing for sky judge, league office is skeptical

As more and more calls get missed by the officials on the field even when they're apparent to everyone watching on TV, the idea that the NFL should add a "sky judge" has grown more popular: If we can see on TV that the officials on the field missed something, why not have an official who's watching…

profootballtalk.nbcsports.com

Report: Coaches pushing for sky judge, league office is skeptical

As more and more calls get missed by the officials on the field even when they’re apparent to everyone watching on TV, the idea that the NFL should add a “sky judge” has grown more popular: If we can see on TV that the officials on the field missed something, why not have an official who’s watching a monitor in a booth, with the ability to communicate to the on-field officials that they’ve missed something?

Coaches plan to push that idea when the league comes together in Indianapolis this week for the Scouting Combine, but according to Mark Maske of the Washington Post, the league office and the majority of officials are skeptical that a sky judge is viable.

The reality is, the NFL officiating office already sometimes communicates in real time with the referee on the field to communicate something that was missed. Most notably, during the AFC Championship Game, CBS commentator Tony Romo mentioned on the air that the officials had missed what should have been a penalty for 12 players on the field. Moments later, the officials huddled up and called that penalty, and it appeared that they had been alerted to it by the officiating office, which likely heard Romo’s words and didn’t want to have a huge TV audience in a big game hear such an obvious missed call pointed out.

If that can happen occasionally when the officiating department feels like doing it, there’s no reason it can’t be part of the regular officiating protocol, with an official in each stadium, watching on a monitor, able to tell the referee immediately when there’s an obvious missed call. But it sounds like the league office isn’t ready for it.

 

[Ram65]

Just say NO. Enough already.

 

[iamme33]

I could go for this if for every sky judge they take an official off the field . it would eliminate officials from being in the way of players or being completely out of position and trying to get a call right.

 

[den-the-coach]

I like the idea, but I want total transparency like the XFL so fans can see how the decision is made....Tired of the official looking into a monitor, it takes too long. Stop the game, get the call right and move on. I really like how it's done in the XFL.

 

[Mojo Ram]

I could go for this if the sky judge didn't work for the NFL as a secret member of the parity police.

 

[leoram]

Personally, I’m sick to death of blatantly missed calls adversely determining the outcome of games. If my team loses because they get outplayed, so be it. Technology has the ability to make things better even if the process isn’t perfect, at least it can be better.

I say the same thing with balls and strikes in baseball. Inconsistency drives me nuts. Use the tech and reduce the human error.

I get that slowing the game sucks. Watching games at the stadium is tedious already with breaks for the sake of commercials only. If they replace those with breaks to get calls right, the impact won’t be so bad.

And if Jared Goff’s hand goes forward and so does the football, and it’s reviewed and upheld as a fumble...that official in the “sky” is held accountable and loses his f’ing job.

All I care about is the truth. We wait months for football return. We can wait a few minutes to get it right.

 

[Merlin]

Coaches have their own asses in mind which is understandable. But they aren't looking out for the speed and sanity of the game and its fans. I don't mind an extra camera but the league needs to realize the coaches will complain and want more security until every call is perfect and the game is slowed to a crawl.

I prefer the game is not slowed any more than it already is.

 

[bubbaramfan]

I'm all for dangling Jerome Booger from a drone.

 

[CGI_Ram]

Report: Competition Committee now supports idea of sky judge

A year ago, the idea of a sky judge received "no support" from the Competition Committee.

profootballtalk.nbcsports.com

Report: Competition Committee now supports idea of sky judge

A year ago, the idea of a sky judge received “no support” from the Competition Committee. Apparently all it took to convince them was the one-year failed experiment that expanded instant replay to include pass interference.

John Kryk of the Toronto Sun reports that the Competition Committee now supports having a sky judge to ensure that certain bad calls or non-calls are fixed in real time.

“The Competition Committee had an abbreviated conference call — obviously, with what’s going on they can’t meet in person as they normally would — but they had a call last week some time,” Dean Blandino, the league’s former head of officiating who now does the same for the XFL, told Kryk, “and they went through all the rules proposals. And there is support for this.”

The Ravens and Chargers jointly proposed two variations of the sky judge concept. The first calls for a “booth umpire” as an eighth member of the officiating crew, and the other proposes the addition of a senior technology advisor to the referee to assist the crew.

The XFL’s sky judge not only ruled on replay reviews but helped on-field officials in the final five minutes of a half.

“As technology continues to improve, and as we can see things as we’re watching on TV that officials cannot see in real time, it’s incumbent upon a league to try to incorporate that into the official decision-making,” Blandino told Kryk.

The NFL reacted to the Rams-Saints NFC Championship debacle from the 2018 season by expanding replay to include interference. It solved nothing, with few reversals even when pass interference was obvious.

The league now is reconsidering how it can fix egregious officiating errors.

Owners typically vote on rules proposals during the league’s annual meeting. But those meetings, scheduled for earlier this week in Palm Beach, Florida, were canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Owners now are scheduled to vote on rules changes at their May 19-20 meeting in Marina Del Ray, California, but that meeting also might not happen.

 

[rams1fan]

There will never be enough cameras or refs. Take marking the spot where a play is over. Camera or ref will inevitably be behind or ahead of the play and therefore inaccurate.

 

[Selassie I]

It's needed for sure. Apparently, the fucking zebras on the field are blind... so of course it's needed.

Hopefully the application process for a sky judge includes a requirement for having the ability to see clearly.

 

[fearsomefour]

Will just cause more angst.
Holding and non holding calls changes? No.
Pic routes? No
DB holding during a route? No
WR pushing off? No.
They use the Rams Saints game as an example.
If sky judge reversed that one call because it was obvious and occurred at a key moment what of the other 20 push offs, PI, holding etc that were not reviewed that could have changed the game?
Trying to make the game perfect is a mistake and will just lead to more anger, discontent and accusations of the game being crooked.
These plays and calls/non calls don’t happen in a vacuum. One affects the next. One error gets fixed while ten others are not.....big mistake.
It’s a bad idea so I have little doubt the NFL will embrace it.

 

[EasyE]

can't believe i am saying this....do it like the XFL....make the call and move on....

 

[1maGoh]

Personally, I’m sick to death of blatantly missed calls adversely determining the outcome of games. If my team loses because they get outplayed, so be it. Technology has the ability to make things better even if the process isn’t perfect, at least it can be better.

I say the same thing with balls and strikes in baseball. Inconsistency drives me nuts. Use the tech and reduce the human error.

I get that slowing the game sucks. Watching games at the stadium is tedious already with breaks for the sake of commercials only. If they replace those with breaks to get calls right, the impact won’t be so bad.

And if Jared Goff’s hand goes forward and so does the football, and it’s reviewed and upheld as a fumble...that official in the “sky” is held accountable and loses his f’ing job.

All I care about is the truth. We wait months for football return. We can wait a few minutes to get it right.

If the ref Union would allow it's members to be held accountable, they already would be. The sky ref will be as immune to punishment as the rest of them. They grade their own tests. It's hard not to always pass in a system like that.