The NFL just made sweeping changes to its rulebook. Starting this season, teams will now be allowed to challenge pass interference calls as well as non-calls. The Cincinnati Bengals and owner Mike Brown didn't want those changes to occur.
Pass interference will now be treated just like any other reviewable call, and the replay booth can take a look at calls in the final two minutes of halves and in overtime. The league had consistently suggested it wouldn't make any major changes for the 2019 season, so this news comes as a bit of a surprise. It apparently gained widespread support by the time it came to vote on it. Just one team voted against it. That team was the Bengals, according to Manish Mehta of The New York Daily News.
Mike Brown, the Bengals' owner, isn't the most public team owner in the league, to understate the matter. He doesn't speak to the media too often, and it's unclear exactly what his objections were.
Other owners such as the New York Giants' John Mara had been publicly skeptical of changing the rules, but apparently were able to be convinced. Saints coach Sean Payton and New Orleans owner Gayle Benson had been two of the most public champions of the cause.
The Bengals are heading into a transitional year. They fired longtime coach Marvin Lewis after 16 seasons and hired young offensive whiz kid Zac Taylor to be the new coach. Brown is 83 and has begun ceding more control of the team to his children in recent years, so it's possible they were the ones who objected to the extended replay review. We should know more soon.
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