Thursday, March 11, 1999
Instant replay coming back, Brown says
Sequel will be as bad as original, he says
BY GEOFF HOBSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The NFL prepares to pull an instant replay on instant replay next week when the league brass meets in Phoenix expecting to adopt a system similar to the one used from 1986-91.
For Bengals President Mike Brown, a member of the NFL competition committee, it's a distant replay of the era his late father religiously opposed as a member of the committee.
Today, his son is the only member of the eight-man committee against the replay plan headed to a vote.
“I'm the lone holdout, but it looks like it's coming back,” Brown said. “It turns our game into arguing over calls and I thought we were done with that in eighth grade. They'll bring it back and there will be the same problems as there were before. It will take away from the flow of the game and it's a distraction.”
The new system allows a coach to make two challenges a game on controversial calls, except in the last two minutes of each half. At that point, it's up to the officials.
The reviewable calls are pretty much the same under the '86-91 plan: plays on the sideline and in the end zone, catches or no-catches, and fumbles when the placement of the knee is in question.
But working on a calculator at his desk Wednesday, Brown cited statistics the competition committee has been studying the past two months and wonders what all the fuss is about.
“There were over 37,000 plays this season and we had 77 that were reversable upon review,” Brown said. “That's .002 of our plays that were reversable. Coaches send in the (calls) they object to and last year they sent in 2,704. Of those, 138 were reviewable. That's one half of one percent. Our officials grade out at 96 percent.”
But Brown knows why there is such a fuss. The blown calls came in high-profile games, such as a missed fumble in the San Francisco playoff victory over Green Bay, or involved a big-market team, such as quarterback Vinny Testaverde's disputed touchdown to win a game for the New York Jets over the Seattle Seahawks.
“The feeling is running high for replay and it's because it got a lot of attention during the season,” Brown said. “But you have to consider all the numbers.”
Co-chairmen of the competition committee are Seattle coach and general manager Mike Holmgren and Tampa Bay general manager Rich McKay. Others serving with Brown are Redskins general manager Charley Casserly, Colts President Bill Polian, Dallas president Jerry Jones, Vikings coach Dennis Green and Steelers coach Bill Cowher.
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ALBANY 4, MIGHTY DUCKS 1
