Speaker 1: NFL Explained is a production of the NFL in partnership
Speaker 1: with I Heart Radio. Art is a brand new edition
Speaker 1: of the NFL Explained podcast. Mike Yam and it's my guy,
Speaker 1: m Rob. I miss you, man. We've had a good
Speaker 1: flow going. You're usually in the studio with me and
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden, you're at home. Now we're
Speaker 1: going virtual on this. Yeah, we're going virtual on this one, Yams.
Speaker 1: But it's all good, man. I had to do some
Speaker 1: stuff with the kids, throw the football around, take some
Speaker 1: field trips. I'll be back in the studio here pretty soon.
Speaker 1: So I know. People were actually wondering if the field
Speaker 1: trip included a ride to the Selfie Museum. Yeah or nay, no,
Speaker 1: not the Selfie Museum, not quite yet. But I may
Speaker 1: go there before I get on the flight to come
Speaker 1: out there, which is good and it kind of leads
Speaker 1: me down a path of what this episode is. When
Speaker 1: I dropped the selfie museum right because we all have
Speaker 1: our phones were attached to technology. I know everyone right
Speaker 1: now who's listening to this podcast, like, think about this,
Speaker 1: m Rob. You and I are old enough and I
Speaker 1: like being able to say this. It was like it's
Speaker 1: the old school of Vetera. You and I are holding
Speaker 1: a back at my day we had a walkman and
Speaker 1: the whole thing. But think about us, like people are
Speaker 1: consuming our show on podcasts or even now on YouTube
Speaker 1: and they get to go and see us with makeup
Speaker 1: on and the whole thing. Yes, let's bring it. But
Speaker 1: do you do you get that vibe that like we're
Speaker 1: almost too attached now to technology and maybe the game
Speaker 1: might be a little too attached to the tech. Well
Speaker 1: a quick answer, yes, I believe society is attached to
Speaker 1: technology a little too much. Just go walk through what
Speaker 1: we used to call malls, middles, things that shopping centers
Speaker 1: and stuff stuff. Absolutely, you go to a mall and
Speaker 1: now everybody's looking at their phone, everybody's looking down. You
Speaker 1: go to a school where a bunch of kids are
Speaker 1: everybody's looking down. So I would say, yes, we are
Speaker 1: a lot more attached to a technology today than we've
Speaker 1: ever been in human times. Okay, so I'm gonna throw
Speaker 1: this year way. Some people are listening to this podcast, like,
Speaker 1: what's this technology in this NFL deal? All right, now
Speaker 1: it's about to make sense for you today we are
Speaker 1: all all about technology in the NFL. On a specific subject,
Speaker 1: something that we're all used to seeing. We see it
Speaker 1: every single Sunday, every Thursday, every Monday. And you know
Speaker 1: what I'm talking about. It's all about instant replay, camera
Speaker 1: angles all over people and fans talking about officials not
Speaker 1: knowing what they're doing. Look at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: and I should preface everything that I'm about to say
Speaker 1: with legitimately, m rob, are there calls that are missed? Yes?
Speaker 1: Are the officials do? They do an absolutely incredible job
Speaker 1: in real time? There is no doubt in my mind
Speaker 1: there's some of the best officials that we have in
Speaker 1: professional sport across the board. We get to be armchair
Speaker 1: quarterback in the moment because we're at home watching TV
Speaker 1: seeing everything in slow mode, frame by frame. Can you
Speaker 1: imagine having to make some of these decisions like this, No,
Speaker 1: not having it. It's tough, man, it really is. Yes,
Speaker 1: it is tough. I don't know how they do it,
Speaker 1: but at the end of the day, they're paid to
Speaker 1: do it, So I'm not gonna let the referees off
Speaker 1: through too much. But bro, it was two times in
Speaker 1: my career in the National Football League. I have some
Speaker 1: times in college I e Penn State, Michigan, one second
Speaker 1: left on the clock. All Mike rob fans, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm talking about there, But I think it was
Speaker 1: two thousand nine. Brett Farve, he was playing for the
Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikings. Into the game last play, like a fifty
Speaker 1: or pass or something like that. Brett Farve kind of
Speaker 1: scrambled around and threw a bullet to the back of
Speaker 1: the end zone to a dude that wasn't even on
Speaker 1: the team that week. Greg Lewis, Okay, this dude was
Speaker 1: like just chilling on the couch and where they brought
Speaker 1: him in and then he ended up catching the game
Speaker 1: when it passed the back of the end zone. And
Speaker 1: then one of the ones that everybody knows in twelve
Speaker 1: to fail. I'm not gonna say it's a fail Mary.
Speaker 1: It was a hell Mary that worked go to take
Speaker 1: card it over, like three or four Green Bay Packers
Speaker 1: players made It was awesome. It was so dope. We
Speaker 1: had the replacement rests that that particular game, and I
Speaker 1: remember seeing one. I remember being on the sideline because
Speaker 1: it was base personnel, so base personnel, I would fullback
Speaker 1: wouldn't have been in the game. In the end of
Speaker 1: the game, situations. But I remember one ref putting his
Speaker 1: hands up as a touchdown and the other ref just
Speaker 1: waving his hands like this, and I just said, you
Speaker 1: know what, sprint to the end zone, get Golden up,
Speaker 1: get him up out of here before they change their mind.
Speaker 1: We won the game. It's pretty cool. It was awesome.
Speaker 1: I actually have heard a lot of stories one of
Speaker 1: your teammates, Evan Moore, and I know I brought him
Speaker 1: up a couple of times. It's a good bunny of
Speaker 1: mine was on your one of your teammates. At that point.
Speaker 1: He actually gave me some intel that we used last
Speaker 1: season on this podcast. It was all about Hail Mary's.
Speaker 1: So I do encourage some of our fans maybe to
Speaker 1: check out that episode going through the inner workings. Remind
Speaker 1: me when you're back in the studio, I got a
Speaker 1: question to ask you about that one. But the point is,
Speaker 1: at least on this episode, when it comes down to
Speaker 1: instant replay, we're gonna go through the historical timeline. We're
Speaker 1: gonna give you some stats will tell you what we
Speaker 1: think is about to come. But I do think it's
Speaker 1: important to start at the beginning here ninety six. The
Speaker 1: origin of this NFL director of Officiating, that's Art McNally,
Speaker 1: first experimented with instant replay by bringing a video camera
Speaker 1: to stop watch to a Dallas Buffalo game on Monday
Speaker 1: Night football, trying to figure out how long a review
Speaker 1: would actually delay the game, because I know this is
Speaker 1: a big critique for people, right like you got, oh,
Speaker 1: it's gonna extend the game and the whole deal, Like
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, we're going to the
Speaker 1: timeline and how it might not be as big a
Speaker 1: factor as you think. He saw a miss call though
Speaker 1: on to play with O. J. Simpson that would have
Speaker 1: been corrected with a replay review, and he thought it
Speaker 1: could benefit the NFL. Nineteen seventy eight, two years later,
Speaker 1: the NFL actually tested instant replay during seven preseason games
Speaker 1: broadcasted on National TV, beginning with the Philadelphia Miami Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame game, but overall the performance of the camera
Speaker 1: system and the cost to install a little prohibitive, so
Speaker 1: they actually tabled everything for a few more years. Taking
Speaker 1: the nineteen technology actually improved so much that the owner's
Speaker 1: voted four and one to add instant replay in a
Speaker 1: limited capacity for the eighties. Six season replay officials sat
Speaker 1: in a booth with get this to VCRs if you
Speaker 1: don't know what Yes, VCRs dude, what happened to us? Man?
Speaker 1: We used to be young, right, Like I'm actually saying,
Speaker 1: like there, I know that there's people like what's the VCR. Yes,
Speaker 1: there are. I remember I used to have to record
Speaker 1: young and Restless in the general hospital from my grandmother
Speaker 1: when I was for your grandmother. Okay, yeah, sure, sure
Speaker 1: if you say so. Um to think about that, like
Speaker 1: when you had to like make a mixtape, remember that
Speaker 1: you had to like hit plane record at the same
Speaker 1: time playing the like it's the whole thing. But the
Speaker 1: replay officials they had two VCRs there so they could
Speaker 1: record and watch back plays. In that first season, there
Speaker 1: were one point six reviews per game, with only ten
Speaker 1: percent of the plays overturned. In just the third play
Speaker 1: from scrimmage in six we actually got this right touchdown.
Speaker 1: So the use of the instant replay on the third
Speaker 1: play from scrimmage and the new year already the new
Speaker 1: rule of the National Football leg you so by instant
Speaker 1: replay official has given the Browns that touchdown on an
Speaker 1: otherwise very confusing play. VCRs man, VCRs dude, it's like
Speaker 1: tracks for us, you know what I mean? Like? Okay,
Speaker 1: So despite that m ROB in n replay was actually
Speaker 1: shelved by the league over concerns that it wasn't efficient
Speaker 1: enough and that nine of the ninety overturned calls were
Speaker 1: in fact incorrect. We then have to fast forward our VCR.
Speaker 1: What the new system actually addressed, issues like delays penalizing
Speaker 1: coaches with the charge time out on an incorrect challenge.
Speaker 1: It clearly worked well because in two thousands, seven teams
Speaker 1: voted thirty to two to keep instant replay permanently. Now,
Speaker 1: that same year, team spent three hundred k a piece
Speaker 1: to install high definition replay systems that were five times sharper.
Speaker 1: The league designated a hub in New York where senior
Speaker 1: officiating members could be in contact with officials on game day,
Speaker 1: and then three years later, all game day decisions would
Speaker 1: be made by dead CATD officials at Art McNally game
Speaker 1: Day Central in New York and ROB. So there's an
Speaker 1: evolution that's here that we're seeing through instant replay, how
Speaker 1: it's installed. In your mind, is there something that could
Speaker 1: be improved upon? When you watch these games and you
Speaker 1: see what these three play officials are doing. I think
Speaker 1: just having a sky judge, just having somebody that can
Speaker 1: see egregious calls, can see things obviously missed obviously to
Speaker 1: have something to do with the success of the play.
Speaker 1: Just a sky just to be up there, just to
Speaker 1: kind of have the referees back, to have the officials
Speaker 1: on the fields back right if they miss something that
Speaker 1: has something to do with the play, that sky just
Speaker 1: can buzz in and be able to interrupt and be
Speaker 1: able to get it right. Because at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, we all want it right. I don't care
Speaker 1: if you're on the side of the car where it
Speaker 1: benefits you or you're on the side of the car
Speaker 1: where it doesn't benefit you. Everybody wants to get the
Speaker 1: call right. In this past spring, I was with the USFL.
Speaker 1: I did some some of those Spring games, and it
Speaker 1: was just interesting to hear the back and forth between
Speaker 1: the referees right that their microphones were always open. As
Speaker 1: a broadcaster and as a viewer, you're able to hear
Speaker 1: kind of their thought processes and what they're going through right,
Speaker 1: and even the reviewable plays Like it was just cool
Speaker 1: to just hear that. First of all, their job isn't easy,
Speaker 1: not at all, like the way that the speed at
Speaker 1: which this game moves. Obviously, we're all fans of the
Speaker 1: game too, so to stop yourself from watching the game
Speaker 1: from an entertainment standpoint and watching the game from a
Speaker 1: standpoint of actually officiating it is a very difficult thing
Speaker 1: to do. Just talking to some of the rest of
Speaker 1: that I talked to down they're being able to officiate
Speaker 1: that game. But I think having a sky judge and
Speaker 1: maybe having just audio opens that we are actively listening
Speaker 1: to how our referees come to their conclusions. Yeah, I know.
Speaker 1: I think that transparency is huge and it could be
Speaker 1: really beneficial for fans who are very quick to point
Speaker 1: to mistakes and feel like, no, no, how do you
Speaker 1: mess that thing up? Like it's not that easy, And
Speaker 1: dudes aren't just sitting back, you know, watching the games
Speaker 1: like we do on our couch right like it is.
Speaker 1: It is a very different vibe for a lot of
Speaker 1: these games that I don't think people really think about
Speaker 1: too much. But it is really important to explain at
Speaker 1: least the exact process once replay and rob is actually
Speaker 1: triggered in a game. So I mentioned the Art McNally
Speaker 1: game Day Central location. They use brand new technology. It's
Speaker 1: a new system and it was installed last year. It's
Speaker 1: called Hawk Eyes Smart System. The Smart is an acronym
Speaker 1: synchronized multi angle replay technology five times fast. It's no joke.
Speaker 1: So they use the Hawkeyes Smart system to isolate the
Speaker 1: best possible angles for a broadcast. The officials at the
Speaker 1: game day Central location they communicate with the stadium replay
Speaker 1: booth as well, and then after talking with other officials
Speaker 1: on the field and the coaches, the head referee is
Speaker 1: given a and we've seen a lot of these on
Speaker 1: the sideline the Microsoft surface to review the play. At
Speaker 1: that point, he communicates with senior designated members at the
Speaker 1: game day Central location that Art McNally spot who makes
Speaker 1: the final decision on review. So it's really multilayered approach, Emrod,
Speaker 1: that you've made reference to. It can feel like forever
Speaker 1: for a lot of fans, but the process is actually
Speaker 1: really streamline. What I find fascinating and this we don't
Speaker 1: talk nearly enough about this. I see this in every
Speaker 1: single sport, em Rod. You're on the football field, reviews happening,
Speaker 1: Officials are you know, gathered, there's players kind of huddled
Speaker 1: around these dudes and at little little chirping back and forth.
Speaker 1: What's actually being said in those moments, Like what's that vibe, Blake? Well,
Speaker 1: first of all, it's one of those vibes where you're like,
Speaker 1: do there's First of all, there's no way you threw
Speaker 1: that flag on me, No way you threw that flag
Speaker 1: on me, man. And then you're the funny part from
Speaker 1: me because I've done this before. You're trying to get
Speaker 1: the referee or the official to look at the big
Speaker 1: screen with you so you can talk him through the
Speaker 1: play and all that. I mean, he can't come to
Speaker 1: a conclusion just looking at the big screen in the stadium.
Speaker 1: But that's what all the fans are looking at. That's
Speaker 1: what we're looking at, and we're basically saying, look, dude,
Speaker 1: you got it wrong. You got it wrong. You know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. So we always have some quick, you know,
Speaker 1: some fun banner back and forth with the referees, and
Speaker 1: people don't realize, like coaches, especially the head coaches, they
Speaker 1: could get you ready for the officials. Like I know
Speaker 1: and every team I've been a part of every single week,
Speaker 1: the head coach in the big team meeting room, he
Speaker 1: you know, brings up the projector all of the referees
Speaker 1: for that week would be up. They have their statistics
Speaker 1: on the calls that they make, the calls that they
Speaker 1: like to make. You know what calls do do they
Speaker 1: make the most on the road. I mean all these
Speaker 1: different types of statistics about the officials, and so when
Speaker 1: players going to a game, you know exactly who you're
Speaker 1: dealing with. I remember playing with your sherman for a
Speaker 1: few years out there in Seattle, and there were always
Speaker 1: times where on the sideline Pete would have to remind him,
Speaker 1: look such and such is the back judge. Understand that
Speaker 1: he's watching you. There's no need in yelling at the
Speaker 1: white head. There's no need in yelling at another official.
Speaker 1: This is the guy watching you, and he calls a
Speaker 1: lot of passive affairs, and so maybe you don't get
Speaker 1: his hands e today and things like that. It's just
Speaker 1: great information to have, and it gives you an advantage
Speaker 1: on game that I'm actually mad because we did an
Speaker 1: episode you and I this season on head coaches and
Speaker 1: what they do. You never brought that up in that episode.
Speaker 1: Come on, manmo in the Champion here. I know, well,
Speaker 1: you know what that's not my fault, Yams, that's not
Speaker 1: my fault. That's your fault. I know you want to
Speaker 1: say that's my fault, but that's your far it's your job,
Speaker 1: like psychologically, get into my right and put all of
Speaker 1: those stories out. Man, he finally did it on this episode.
Speaker 1: No we we I was that's a good way to
Speaker 1: spend it. I was saving something for a little later
Speaker 1: date in time. You know what's fascinating about what you
Speaker 1: just described. In other sports, I know they do this,
Speaker 1: and I think the same could be said for football.
Speaker 1: Don't you use that replay time as almost like an
Speaker 1: extra time out? Oh? Yes, are you kidding? Made coaches
Speaker 1: are coaching up like crazy. Half the time, you already
Speaker 1: know what the result of the call is gonna be,
Speaker 1: and you're coaching up like if it was an interception,
Speaker 1: and you know, everybody's like, all, that wasn't an interception.
Speaker 1: That wasn't an interception. Defense coordinated to see it. They
Speaker 1: called out, hey man, look that was a pick. Man,
Speaker 1: y'all gonna get on off the field now, the offense
Speaker 1: coach and start coaching their guys up. I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a pseudo time, but I remember camp Chancellor telling
Speaker 1: me we were playing in the NFC Championship game. We
Speaker 1: were playing in San Francisco for the Nintors, who was
Speaker 1: the team that I was with before the Seattle Seahawks
Speaker 1: in that big NFC championship game before the Super Bowl
Speaker 1: a year we won the Super Bowl. And Cam hit
Speaker 1: Vernon Davis so hard, Bro, Like I think I'm asked,
Speaker 1: told the story on this podcast before. But he hit
Speaker 1: Vernon so hard it was legal. It was with his shoulder.
Speaker 1: In everything I think you can if you look back
Speaker 1: to you're gonna see that hit. That was all over
Speaker 1: the highlights he knocked. He hit Vernon so hard, vernon
Speaker 1: pants got twisted and ripped. I ain't never seen nothing
Speaker 1: like that. He hit it with his shoulder and his
Speaker 1: pants got ripped. To think about that, and then the
Speaker 1: referee waited like five seconds and then through the flag
Speaker 1: and Cam was like, man, Man, were you talking about
Speaker 1: what you're talking about? And um, I said Cham. When
Speaker 1: Cam got back to the sideline, I said, Cam, what
Speaker 1: the hell happened? Man? What just what did he say
Speaker 1: to you? He said, Bro? I said, why did you
Speaker 1: throw the flag in the referee? I never forget Camp
Speaker 1: telling me he said. The referee said, Bro, that looked
Speaker 1: way too violent. I said what Camp said? Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: he said it looked too violent. This is football, right,
Speaker 1: And we had a moment on the sideline. It was
Speaker 1: pretty cool. But it just goes to it, man, referees
Speaker 1: are human too. Things look very violent. You just said, Oh,
Speaker 1: something had to have happened. That's why we need this guy, judge.
Speaker 1: That's why we like that command center to help our
Speaker 1: guys out on the football field. Yeah. I know, I'm
Speaker 1: with you there, just that extra set of eyes. One
Speaker 1: other note on the dialogue that's happening. Do certain guys
Speaker 1: how do I put this, have a reputation and maybe
Speaker 1: those experiences with officials have them thinking differently, like sure, Leash,
Speaker 1: do you know what I mean? Uh? Yeah, I know
Speaker 1: exactly what you mean. Um, what's my guy? Man? He
Speaker 1: used to play for the Arizona car knows what the
Speaker 1: Florida State. I hated playing a dot Knell Docket that's
Speaker 1: his name deep as a tackle. Oh, I hated playing
Speaker 1: that dude. I hated playing that dude. Every time I
Speaker 1: encountered him, I felt like it was a dirty play
Speaker 1: every time I went up against him. I'm looking at
Speaker 1: the rough flight. And again, I played fullback and running
Speaker 1: back sometimes, so my encounters were him were minimal. But
Speaker 1: I hated playing that dude, and I would always go
Speaker 1: to the ref every single place I do. He's doing
Speaker 1: something every single play. It's one of those guys that
Speaker 1: you hate playing against what you love when he's on
Speaker 1: your team. That's one of those guys that I would
Speaker 1: always go to the referee. And but like, man, keep
Speaker 1: your eyes on that dude. Love shout off to Donell Doc.
Speaker 1: I don't know what he's doing in life now, but
Speaker 1: he was kind of like my neighbor in Arizona want
Speaker 1: to live there, shouting He's probably like I appreciate that.
Speaker 1: I like that people were thinking about me in those terms.
Speaker 1: All Right, we're gonna continue this conversation because I do
Speaker 1: think it's important to consider what's happening in New York
Speaker 1: when a lot of these plays are getting reviewed and
Speaker 1: you men shin m rob your experiences listening to some
Speaker 1: of these conversations with that is actually, like, there's so
Speaker 1: many things that these officials are responsible for, confirming scores, turnovers,
Speaker 1: initiating reviews under two minutes during both halves and obviously
Speaker 1: over time. In addition, they're analyzing game decisions. Think about this.
Speaker 1: Before every single play, they're verifying the clock status at
Speaker 1: the beginning and the end of every play, confirming the
Speaker 1: correct number of players on the field at the snap.
Speaker 1: Every time I see too many men on the field,
Speaker 1: I'm always like, how did you figure that out? Like,
Speaker 1: I'm sitting there watching going, dude like you, I'm not
Speaker 1: great with numbers, but I'm sitting there. I'd be like
Speaker 1: one to you, like on the finger, old school counting.
Speaker 1: You're not going, you wouldn't count. Mike. What happens is
Speaker 1: when you played this game, will see this game feeling enough?
Speaker 1: You just feel it. You like, dude, there's too many
Speaker 1: guys that line right there, there's just too many secondary players.
Speaker 1: You just feel it. Man, Yeah, best defense you went
Speaker 1: up against. I'm guaranteeing like there was eleven dudes on
Speaker 1: the field and it felt like there was fifteen. And
Speaker 1: you just kept looking around like it feels they don't
Speaker 1: feel like there's any windows for me. There's not enough holes.
Speaker 1: The whole thing. I get it all right. When we
Speaker 1: come back, we're gonna take you through some of the
Speaker 1: numbers behind instant replay, which teams are doing it the
Speaker 1: most successfully, and actually how often calls are being overturned.
Speaker 1: That's coming up next on the NFL Explain podcast. All right,
Speaker 1: welcome back to the NFL Explained podcasts. Mike Yam and
Speaker 1: Rob with you. And I think I went this whole
Speaker 1: week and I did not get someone siding into my
Speaker 1: d M s with a question, which is weird. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like we're slacking here because I'm as e Proba will
Speaker 1: tell you, I get legit excited when we get questions
Speaker 1: for our mail bag episode. So once again, if you're
Speaker 1: checking this out on our YouTube, which by the way,
Speaker 1: I just found out before we started rolling that our
Speaker 1: shows are now available visually as well as you can
Speaker 1: obviously just listen to the audio. I'm much better looking
Speaker 1: on in podcast form than YouTube form. But um, it's
Speaker 1: you know, the the imagination, you know, the whole mind. No,
Speaker 1: you need to go to YouTube and check it out
Speaker 1: because anytime yeams get embarrassed or whatever, you can see
Speaker 1: the sweat happening on his hairline. So also the same
Speaker 1: thing happens to me too, so you know it takes
Speaker 1: one to know where. Yeah, no, no, the sweat I
Speaker 1: always and I do. You know, I beat up pretty easily.
Speaker 1: But you're right that that does happen, you know, Just
Speaker 1: because now I know we're on YouTube, I'm gonna ask
Speaker 1: our makeup people if they can come and do touch
Speaker 1: ups and to make sure that whatever thing's okay. You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. Um, But in all sincerity, we
Speaker 1: do actually appreciate the questions that we have been getting.
Speaker 1: I swear to you if you do DM me or
Speaker 1: m Rob really just me. I promise I screenshot everything,
Speaker 1: I send it to our crew. I put it on
Speaker 1: a text thread. There's emojis firing all over the place.
Speaker 1: I get hyped up and Rob gets hyped up, and
Speaker 1: I promise we will get to some of those shows.
Speaker 1: By the way, we made a whole episode, not even
Speaker 1: just for the mail bag episode. We made a whole
Speaker 1: episode based off of one of those questions. So we'd
Speaker 1: love to hear from you. You can find us on
Speaker 1: social media at my underscore or yam at real mic
Speaker 1: Rob on Twitter. All right, let's get back to the
Speaker 1: instant replay stuff. How often it's successful? Because I think
Speaker 1: that's the question that everyone is thinking about. So between
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty six, it was just a kid. In nine,
Speaker 1: during the first iteration of instant replay, there were an
Speaker 1: average of two point two plays reviewed per game, but
Speaker 1: reversals only happened twelve point six percent at the time.
Speaker 1: During those days, coaches weren't actually allowed to challenge that change.
Speaker 1: Under the current iteration of instant replay, so since nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety nine, there's been an average of one point three
Speaker 1: plays per game challenge and thirty nine percent of the
Speaker 1: plays have been reversed, So that is a big jump
Speaker 1: in terms of those reversals. In nine nine nine, a
Speaker 1: total of one ninety five plays were reviewed, fifty seven
Speaker 1: reverse at a rate of twenty nine percent. But in
Speaker 1: one check this out, two hundred and seventy nine plays
Speaker 1: were reviewed, a hundred and fifty eight were reversed. That's
Speaker 1: a seven percent rate of change, highest ever highest THATFFROM. Yeah,
Speaker 1: most review plays past completion, My lord, we've all watched
Speaker 1: enough football games to know that they checked those things
Speaker 1: out past incompletion. You can check that box as well
Speaker 1: and run or breaking the plant like that. Totally makes
Speaker 1: sense to me on those scenarios. Going back to what
Speaker 1: we were talking about though, at the top of some
Speaker 1: of the technology. Is there something emrod that you would
Speaker 1: point to as to why we're seeing the reversal change
Speaker 1: so significantly, I would point to just the technology from
Speaker 1: the television that from the technic quality of the images. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the quality of the images. I mean you could right
Speaker 1: now they can zoom into that sideline shot when a
Speaker 1: guy's running on the sideline and you can see whether
Speaker 1: it's a blade or two of grass in between his
Speaker 1: cleat in the white line in We just weren't able
Speaker 1: to see that, right in nineteen ninet. We just weren't
Speaker 1: able to see those types of things. And I think
Speaker 1: as the quality of the picture continues to get ramped up,
Speaker 1: I think you'll see even more calls get overturned because
Speaker 1: the game moves so fast, right, and so for an
Speaker 1: referee or to have an opportunity or a fan for
Speaker 1: that matter, to have an opportunity to see this game
Speaker 1: slowed down frame by frame, that's truly when you can
Speaker 1: get to the essence of you know, what's causing an issue,
Speaker 1: or what a penalty is, or things like that. I
Speaker 1: do think it's interesting that we still don't know where
Speaker 1: it catches. I played football all my damn life Mike,
Speaker 1: and I still don't know where to catch out. I
Speaker 1: still don't I know from the letter of the law
Speaker 1: what it catches, but from watching it. To me is
Speaker 1: hard because at the end of the day, I can
Speaker 1: go out to any park in America, in any city
Speaker 1: and see kids making some crazy catches that may look
Speaker 1: like an incomplete past, but our truly catches because it
Speaker 1: catches a feet, it has a feel to it. So
Speaker 1: I don't know, man, I don't know. Just to replace
Speaker 1: some sometimes it's made it harder on me to determine
Speaker 1: what the hell is going on out there. You and
Speaker 1: I both know that someone's gonna DM you and go
Speaker 1: what is it catch? For the mont episode? That's what
Speaker 1: they're gonna say, all right, Welcome back to the NFL
Speaker 1: Explained podcasts. Mike, yam m ROB with you. I'm with
Speaker 1: you on those camera angles and the quality. And here's
Speaker 1: the best thing that I can say about it. We
Speaker 1: all watched these documentaries on sports m ROB from decades ago,
Speaker 1: and we watched them back, whether it's you know, the
Speaker 1: old school NFL film stuff, stuff at the NBA, Major
Speaker 1: League Baseball, like think about I was watching something the
Speaker 1: other day and said, oh, my god, Like I didn't
Speaker 1: know how bad it was for us to watch sports
Speaker 1: because now we just take for granted, you know, got
Speaker 1: h D, the oh lad TV, the whole thing, right,
Speaker 1: Like I don't even know if I'm using the right terminology,
Speaker 1: but you know what I'm saying, Like we got all
Speaker 1: this like great technology, and when I flash back and go,
Speaker 1: how did we even know who the hell was on
Speaker 1: the field, Like everything seems so blurry, like quality was
Speaker 1: so bad. So to me it makes so much more sense,
Speaker 1: like some of these video angles and the quality of
Speaker 1: the picture. I'm like, oh my god, I'm watching Thursday
Speaker 1: I Football. I'm private. I'm thinking myself, man, like think
Speaker 1: about this, like just crazy, man, it is. WiFi is
Speaker 1: good exactly. I even um I said earlier. I did
Speaker 1: some of the USFL football games this past spring. They
Speaker 1: even have a drone that has even more unique angles
Speaker 1: because the drone is able to kind of get in there,
Speaker 1: you know, on player level. So again, I just think
Speaker 1: as technology grows, will continue to again try to get
Speaker 1: things right. That's the ultimate goal in our sport, getting
Speaker 1: things right. And as technology goes, I think we'll continue
Speaker 1: down that path. Do you think the game's over officiated.
Speaker 1: Uh yeah, times I do. To me, especially like with
Speaker 1: this rough and the pastor thing. You know, we can
Speaker 1: have that discussion on subjective calls and you know, rough
Speaker 1: and a pastor wood is roughing, you know, to each
Speaker 1: individual and things like that. To me, it is a
Speaker 1: subjective thing. But I know, quarterbacks are quarterbacks and with
Speaker 1: dry fans, you know, and they're the post the boys
Speaker 1: of the league and things like that. But to me,
Speaker 1: they're football players, and these calls are literally determining games.
Speaker 1: And we talk about the parody in the National Football
Speaker 1: League and how each week we don't know who's gonna win,
Speaker 1: and each year there could be a new Super Bowl champion,
Speaker 1: and we love it. We love it. I love that
Speaker 1: fact about our league. But if that is the case,
Speaker 1: if that truly is the case, then that means officiating.
Speaker 1: The calls have to be right. And at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, when you're you put somebody at the
Speaker 1: beginning of the season say we want to protect quarterbacks
Speaker 1: and rough and the passion is going to be, you know,
Speaker 1: a call of emphasis, and these calls are determining games. Again, Mike,
Speaker 1: I was a role player of my entire career too
Speaker 1: many losses. I'm one of the first ones to go
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, I don't necessarily believe
Speaker 1: in that. So yeah, this game can be over efficiated.
Speaker 1: You know. I'm with you. And and get it back
Speaker 1: on the instant replay bandwagon for a second, because I
Speaker 1: think one of the other facets of this conversation is
Speaker 1: how long do these replays actually take? And I think
Speaker 1: the number will probably surprise people. And let me just
Speaker 1: say this, like, I don't think people understand. You know,
Speaker 1: what's it like to be in twenty seconds of silence?
Speaker 1: Like it just and it feels like a long time.
Speaker 1: So when you're watching to make sure you're dude, and
Speaker 1: that touchdown two feet in in the end, zon't like
Speaker 1: that feels excruciating. But in reality, the numbers aren't as
Speaker 1: crazy as you think because at its lowest point in
Speaker 1: the average replay was taking one minute and forty four
Speaker 1: seconds last season. The average to go up a minute,
Speaker 1: right last average last season two minutes and twenty three seconds.
Speaker 1: So the fan who's waiting still like to twenty three
Speaker 1: man like it. It's not as crazy as you think.
Speaker 1: To get it right, the teams that have been most
Speaker 1: successful since ninety nine at overturning calls, Dallas Cowboys forty
Speaker 1: point one percent at a time, the Eagles at forty
Speaker 1: six point six percent of the time. So you're starting
Speaker 1: to say to yourself, like, why is that why those
Speaker 1: two teams, Well, here we go. Those two squads are
Speaker 1: number one and number three when it comes to playing
Speaker 1: primetime games. Since so you're saying, all right, well, why
Speaker 1: is that important? Here's what I can tell you, and
Speaker 1: I've experienced this. It's important because primetime games have way
Speaker 1: more cameras than the games that you're seeing on Sunday afternoon,
Speaker 1: sometimes as many as four times the amount. And I
Speaker 1: know that sounds crazy, m Rob. You've been in this
Speaker 1: business in a long time, just like I have. Like
Speaker 1: if you go to a prime time game and you
Speaker 1: see the production trucks that are out there, and you
Speaker 1: know the amount of cameras has a lot of tools
Speaker 1: in the tools shifts were for these crews. So more cameras,
Speaker 1: more eyes, better angles, more opportunity to reverse calls. Those
Speaker 1: camera angles specifically, that is an opportunity for plays to
Speaker 1: get overturned and really to get the perfect call as
Speaker 1: much as you want. So I want to mention a
Speaker 1: few of the famous instances of instant replay. Music City
Speaker 1: Miracle replay able to confirm the wild lateral that lad
Speaker 1: the Titans to beat the Bills in that was actually
Speaker 1: the first year that we've played came back the des
Speaker 1: Bryant or non catch, depending if you're Pakistan. It's kind
Speaker 1: of like that film Mary you were talking about a
Speaker 1: little bit before, and obviously went as Bryant scored that
Speaker 1: go ahead touchdown and Rob, I know you mentioned film Mary.
Speaker 1: Anything else that comes to mind with some of these
Speaker 1: three plays and some of those moments for you. I mean,
Speaker 1: obviously the Megatron one, I think he was in Chicago.
Speaker 1: I think when he was getting up off the ground,
Speaker 1: it was obvious catch to me. But it just seems
Speaker 1: like some of the some of the makers of our
Speaker 1: game had never seen a human being do anything that great.
Speaker 1: But I mean, to me, you have to go to
Speaker 1: that Ram Saints two thousand and eighteen NFC Championship game.
Speaker 1: Right to me, that was the most egregious no call
Speaker 1: that should have been passed, an ofference that didn't get called,
Speaker 1: there was no replay for that was the most egregious
Speaker 1: one of them all. If our listeners remember Robie Coleman
Speaker 1: Nickel Roby Coleman, the defensive back for the Rams, ended
Speaker 1: up hitting the Saints Tommy Lee Lewis, and I mean
Speaker 1: should have been called. It was passing affairs. It was
Speaker 1: Agreedi just looked like the referee was about to throw
Speaker 1: the flag and then he didn't. Then we started questioning
Speaker 1: how the officials actually formed their team for playoffs. It
Speaker 1: was a whole big mess. You can go back to
Speaker 1: some of the stories back then. But again to me,
Speaker 1: the past and inference call again, another subjective call being
Speaker 1: in question, and again to me, a sky judge would
Speaker 1: have helped that. Somebody that you said, wor wold World
Speaker 1: World War WOA. Come on, this is about the game,
Speaker 1: the integrity of our game. We cannot let this play
Speaker 1: move on without this play being called. So yeah, I
Speaker 1: think that thousand eighteen NFC Championship game was probably the
Speaker 1: one that comes to mind the most. And my just
Speaker 1: thirteen of eighty one passing inference challenges were successful in
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen. So it was scrapped in and they're trying
Speaker 1: to figure out a process to make subjective calls better
Speaker 1: because again at the end of the day, there's no
Speaker 1: there's no line of demarcation on some of these subjective
Speaker 1: calls where referee could just say, yeah, they met all
Speaker 1: of these. So this is why we made the call.
Speaker 1: That comes down to the opinion of the referee. So
Speaker 1: it's that in mind, do you You and I were
Speaker 1: talking off fair before we started recording, and I had
Speaker 1: said to you, hey, like, do you think we get
Speaker 1: to a point where every play gets reviewed? And I
Speaker 1: think you and I are probably on the same page
Speaker 1: that the answer is yes. After hearing the number that
Speaker 1: you just threw out there, I'm almost wondering, like, hey, man,
Speaker 1: like that might be a little further out than I
Speaker 1: had thought. Like I thought maybe the end of the decade.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's longer. I don't know. Yeah, well, I look
Speaker 1: at it like this, like and I think, um, I
Speaker 1: was at some owners meeting some years ago and Bill
Speaker 1: Belichick was talking about this, and this is not something
Speaker 1: I'm breaking or anything. We all know what's going on.
Speaker 1: He just said, yes, keep the number of challenges at
Speaker 1: a limited number, two or three, whatever we decide, but
Speaker 1: make any play challengeable. And what you're challenging has to
Speaker 1: have something to do with the success of the play,
Speaker 1: and to me, that would limit the length of some
Speaker 1: of these challenges, but it would also give coaches a
Speaker 1: tool in their tool box where they feel that they've
Speaker 1: been sliding on a particular call because of the parody,
Speaker 1: because of how close these teams are, they can use
Speaker 1: their tools, their toolbox to potentially get the right call.
Speaker 1: I think that's something we should look at. So I
Speaker 1: told you this story, and I don't know how much
Speaker 1: I told you before. Sometimes I just say I'll save
Speaker 1: it for air. You say the same thing. I used
Speaker 1: to work on a project in virtual reality around the NFL.
Speaker 1: I did that for a couple of seasons and it
Speaker 1: wasn't ready for prime time yet. When I think about
Speaker 1: the image quality that we get just watching normal TV,
Speaker 1: but m ROB, I actually think in a lot of
Speaker 1: ways that's the future of instant replay, because like when
Speaker 1: you get the headset on or even a R which
Speaker 1: is augmented reality, like you put those headsets on, man,
Speaker 1: Like if I turned to my right, I see exactly
Speaker 1: what everyone sees as if I was actually at the game.
Speaker 1: And I think if the quality of the cameras get better,
Speaker 1: especially that drone one or the sky cam that's coming
Speaker 1: through like em rob. You literally can get every single
Speaker 1: angle of every single play, like I would imagine that
Speaker 1: has got to be where it goes, probably in the
Speaker 1: next I don't know, five ten years. Oh, that would
Speaker 1: be interesting right there. Games players, I don't know if
Speaker 1: I'm with players would like that. I mean, just just
Speaker 1: getting everything everything replay, everything is all camera again, the
Speaker 1: goal is to get it right. If the goal is
Speaker 1: to get it right, which it is, I would vote
Speaker 1: for that. I would be in favor of that. Do
Speaker 1: the players ever have conversations about what they want or
Speaker 1: don't want? Um like informal do Most guys don't. They
Speaker 1: don't like replay like I would imagine skill, but like
Speaker 1: the wide receivers want. Big guys don't care. Big guys
Speaker 1: don't care. I mean, and I was a runner, so
Speaker 1: a lot of the runners that I've talked to over
Speaker 1: the years, we're always fighting for extra yards and they
Speaker 1: hate sometimes the spots of the you know where the
Speaker 1: spots are and where officials car runners down. Again, in
Speaker 1: the USFL, they put a computer chip in the ball
Speaker 1: so you never had to guess where the ball went
Speaker 1: out of bound. You never had to guess exactly, Hawf
Speaker 1: offers down was I think more technology like that, it's coming.
Speaker 1: That's awesome, you know, I think about that like that
Speaker 1: solves a lot of issues. Put up that virtual wall
Speaker 1: around the field, and soon as that ball goes over,
Speaker 1: like you know, it's out. At that point, technology rules
Speaker 1: the world. That's why the Selfie Museum is thriving. Yes,
Speaker 1: that's exactly the reason why. I know I made reference
Speaker 1: to it a little bit earlier. And that's the idea
Speaker 1: of getting into our d m s. If you got
Speaker 1: a question don't know who to ask, we got you
Speaker 1: covered at Real Bike Rob at Mike Underscore. Yeah, if
Speaker 1: you're new to the podcast, tell a friend, tell a friend,
Speaker 1: hop a board, hop a board, follow us wherever you
Speaker 1: get your podcasts and m Rob. I've sprinkled this in
Speaker 1: throughout the course of the show. I'm actually legit excited
Speaker 1: about this. We are we're now, our faces are out there.
Speaker 1: It's you can find us on the NFL YouTube channel.
Speaker 1: I had heard rumblings that this might happen, m Rob.
Speaker 1: The other rumbling that I heard is me and you
Speaker 1: we're getting our own show that's separate from NFL explained. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a huge, huge thing. Details for real, man,
Speaker 1: I'm getting pumped up. Run to California right now. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, not to make you disappointed, but you know
Speaker 1: how they say, like speak things in to existence. That's
Speaker 1: what I was doing. So that's what it's not. A
Speaker 1: vision board at home. Don't actually have always legitimately appreciate
Speaker 1: you guys checking us out. It's instant replaying, exploited