NFL officiating has been maddeningly inconsistent this season, drawing the public ire of fans, coaches and pundits every week through the halfway point of 2022.
Week 10 was another example of that. Dre Greenlaw’s hit on Justin Herbert during Sunday Night’s game between the 49ers and Chargers resulting in Greenlaw led to Greenlaw being ejected for helmet-to-helmet contact he didn’t purposefully initiate, and a Gabriel Davis “catch” in the wild Bills-Vikings game allowed to stand despite being reviewable by officials.
On the latter play, officials could have reviewed the catch on their own because the game had under two minutes left, but the replay booth reportedly didn’t buzz down in time to initiate a review. Had that review occurred, the catch probably would’ve been overturned, and the Bills might not have pushed the game to overtime.
Belichick, who told WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” on Monday he supports most plays being subject to challenges, says coaches should be allowed once more to challenge plays with under two minutes left, especially if officials fail to review a play.
“[The Davis catch] could’ve been reviewed by the officials because it was under two minutes,” Belichick said. “Either it wasn’t, or they missed it, however you want to characterize it. But to me, that would be an example of a play that the team should have an opportunity to challenge if they want to and if they have a challenge left. …
“Not having the ability to challenge a play that could impact the outcome of the game – calls like holding and pass interference, things like that – I don’t see why those plays can’t be reviewed. But again, that’s not my decision. It is what it is.”
In the end, the Vikings pulled out a win over the Bills, so the catch-or-no-catch controversy didn’t decide the game. But the league has recently issued statements to teams like the Chicago Bears that state officials missed critical pass interference calls, for example, that ultimately decided the game’s outcome.
If nothing else, this year has highlighted once more that officials can’t be trusted to get calls right every time – though this could be said for any sport and shouldn’t be surprising. Even if it means slowing down the game a bit at the end, perhaps the NFL should consider Belichick’s suggesting about opening up challenges inside of two minutes for plays such as this in order to get things as correct as possible.