Calling all NFL rules gurus

[lurkercowboy]

This is the explanation given by Wade Phillips on the booth review at the end of the Bills game. (taken from the press conference summary by Grizz)

"Wade explained how they do replay reviews like the one on the Terrell Owens’ incompletion. He said the replay official doesn’t look at the replay before he buzzes down; he looks at the offensive team and sees if they can get another play off. If he thinks they can then he buzzes, so he buzzed down to the field before we spiked the ball. If we hadn’t been able to spike the ball though, it wouldn’t have mattered if the pass was incomplete; at that point the game is over. So if we hadn’t been able to spike that ball, we would have lost. We wouldn’t get the time back even though the pass was incomplete. But the replay official saw that we were about to spike it in time and buzzed the on-field official. At least that’s what Wade says."

So, does any NFL rules guru have an opinion on this? Does it seem right to you?

 

[Future]

I was listening to that too, doesn't really make any sense. But that rule isn't going to be changed until a team gets screwed like what Wade was talking about.

 

[joseephuss]

I heard that and think it is dumb. The point is to determine to use replay to get the call right, not to see if it benefits one team over the other before making that decision. From my understanding the play could have been reviewed even if Dallas did not get the ball snapped. As long as another play has not run the play can be reviewed even with no time on the clock.

For example, what if a receiver caught a TD with no time on the clock and it was not clear that his feet were in bounds. It could and should be reviewed to determine if the player got both feet in bounds and maintained possession.

I thought the TO reception should have been reviewed. Any big potentially game changing play that is questionable should pretty much automatically be reviewed in the final two minutes of the game.