Jon Gruden thinks the NFL should abolish instant replay
With the unrivaled popularity and nonstop scrutiny, the NFL will always be one play, one missed call, one botched coin flip away from controversy.
By
Ryan Wilson
•
1 min read
With the unrivaled popularity and nonstop scrutiny, the NFL will always be one play, one missed call, one botched coin flip away from controversy. Fair or not, it's the reality of doing business in a day and age where nothing slips past Internet sleuthers, media talking heads and just about everybody else.
But instead of more oversight and regulation -- namely in the form of more instant replay -- ESPN NFL analyst and former Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden is in favor of less of it. Like, a lot less of it.
“I would eliminate all of it,” Gruden said in an interview with Men's Fitness, via PFT. “Everything’s disputed now. Was he inbounds? Was it a turnover? It’s taken the juice out of the stadium. There are too many timeouts. Let the people on the field officiate and hold them accountable. Look, there’s going to be some bang-bang plays that have to be officiated. And who’s going to make the decision? The instant replay man in New York City?”
The incessant time stoppages make for a fair argument against instant replay, but we can only imagine the social-media outrage should, God forbid, an official miss a call. We're already inundated with conspiracy theories every time (insert team you think is backed by the Illuminati) catches a break.
Ultimately, the goal should be to get the call right. We'd like to think that happens more often with instant replay. That said, replay reviews can and should be shorter for the benefit of everybody involved, from the fans in the stadium to those watching on television, to the players and coaches. Whether that happens is another matter.
But doing away with replay altogether doesn't seem like a long-term solution, even if we talk about holding people accountable. The NFL does that now when it punishes officials for egregious mistakes. We're not willing to say the officiating is significantly better as a consequence.
