The NFL's competition committee is open to a proposal for replay reviews on pass interference calls, according to New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton.
Per Saints coach Sean Payton, competition committee has agreed to a proposal that would allow coaches challenge on plays where offensive or defensive pass interference is not called. If it passes, that would address non-calls similar to the one in the Saints-Rams NFC Champ.
— Bob Glauber (@BobGlauber) March 26, 2019
This should come as no surprise. This proposal came about as a result of Los Angeles Rams defensive back Nickell Robey-Coleman not being called for pass interference on Saints intended receiver TommyLee Lewis. The call late in the NFC Championship Game helped send the Rams to the Super Bowl.
On Wednesday, NFL team owners will vote on the proposals allowing all pass interference calls to be reviewable. If it passes, this will most certainly prevent no-calls such as the one in the NFC Championship Game from happening again.
At the same time, if pass interference calls can be reviewed by the refs, that would extend the length of NFL games. NFL games are already at least three to 3.5 hours long.
Do all coaches understand what pass interference is? Will coaches be allowed to throw challenge flags left and right to point out every possible missed PI call?
Article Continues BelowThe integrity of the game is strongly valued and considered when it comes to potential rule changes. But making or adding such a change will both benefit and hurt the NFL.
Referees are not perfect and there will be missed calls in every game. Maybe the NFL should consider a limit as to how many PI challenges can be used or reviewed in any single game. Should these potential PI rule changes be applied to playoff games only? How about all PI plays be automatically reviewed when there's a two-minute warning?
There are a lot of ways pass interference reviews can be applied. Not all of the NFL will agree to the potential changes, but there must be a way to prevent what happened in the Rams-Saints game.
Sean Payton would certainly agree.