With player safety as one of the NFL's focal points during this year's annual meetings, Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said officials should be able to review plays that put players in danger. The NFL already utilizes instant replay as much, if not more, than any other professional sport, making some coaches resistant to expanding it further.
Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin called himself a "traditionalist" and said instant replay was not initially intended to help officials get "significant, game-changing plays" right. While other pro sports leagues, MLB in particular, have followed the NFL's lead in integrating instant replay, people like Tomlin believe it has gone far enough.
But people like Harbaugh not only believe instant replay has not gone far enough, but also see its expanded use as inevitable.
"If we're talking about a full-speed shot and the official's got to decide, right in the moment, if he got hit in the head or not, he doesn't want to make a mistake, he doesn't want to flag that 15 yards because that's going to alter the game. He may not throw that flag," Harbaugh said Tuesday morning. "But if he knows he's protected by replay and he thinks there was helmet (or) neck area contact, he'll throw the flag. And then if you see it on the replay, 'Oh, he didn't get it on the head,' we'll throw the red flag and we'll get it right. To me that protects the player even more."
New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick floated the idea last year about opening "everything" to replay review. Arizona Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians publicly supported the idea as well, though he said he initially thought of the idea as being "weird."
The NFL seems dead-set on passing a new rule that would result in players getting ejected for committing two of a specific series of personal foul penalties. It is not expected to result in players getting thrown out of games every week, but it is meant to enhance players' on-field safety to some degree.
That is where Harbaugh thinks the NFL can do more, shooting down the notion that expanded use would slow down the game too much as being a "red herring." If the NFL can find a way to implement this kind of replay usage without sacrificing too much, it will not matter how many "traditionalists" disagree.
