NFL teams are strongly opposed to renewing the rule that made pass interference reviewable by instant replay last season, according to the results of an offseason survey conducted by the league’s competition committee.
Of the 29 teams to respond to a question about whether they would be in favor of making the rule permanent, 21 said no and eight said yes. Three teams did not respond.
Of the 22 teams to respond to a question about whether they would be in favor of extending the rule for one more year, 17 said no. A copy of the results of the survey, which were distributed to competition committee members, was obtained by The Washington Post.
At least 24 of the 32 owners would have to vote to keep the rule for it to remain in place.
“Obviously it was a one-year rule,” Green Bay Packers President Mark Murphy, a member of the competition committee, said Monday. “I’d say overall the results were not great. I think it really is putting especially the New York office in a really difficult position.”
According to the survey results, 13 teams thought the interference-related replay rulings made by the NFL’s officiating department in New York were not consistent from week to week. Two teams said the league should add another on-field official or a “sky judge” replay official, and two more said they would rather see personal fouls reviewed by replay rather than pass interference.
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Conspiracy theory: The NFL deliberately sabotaged this rule after it was voted in, b/c they saw it as a humiliating admission that the refs were incompetent. So there was an encouragement by the NFL to the refs that they really screw it up as much as possible, to make all the owners dislike it to the point of wanting it removed.