In a somewhat surprising move, NFL owners Tuesday voted to make all pass interference calls, offensive and defensive, and non-calls of possible pass interference, reviewable.
PHOTO GALLERY: NFL Coaches Breakfast at Owners Meetings
Coaches will be able to throw challenge flags when they think refs blew the call. If there are two minutes or under in the half, then the booth would have to initiate the review.
According to Stephon Jones, a called OR non-called pass inference penalty can be challenged during the game before two minutes. After 2 minutes, it goes to booth reviews. Big change.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 26, 2019New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton lobbied for the rule change after the officiating crew in the NFC Championship Game failed to call defensive pass interference on Los Angeles Rams defensive back Nickell Robey-Coleman in the closing minuts of the second half. An automatic first down for the Saints at the point would have allowed them to bleed enough time off the clock to kick a game-winning field goal.
The NFL also acknowledged missing a helmet-to-helmet personal foul on Robey-Coleman.
Chances for a rule change based on the blown call initially seemed slim, but the competition committee, of which Payton is a member, strongly endorsed it. It ended up passing by a vote of 31-1.
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) March 27, 2019Oh and the #Bengals were the one team that voted against pass interference replay reviews, sources say.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) March 27, 2019
