‘Our fans want less flags.’ Dallas Cowboys’ Stephen Jones says NFL should reverse rule.
The NFL’s aim to please everyone and to get it all right is not going as well as planned, and Cowboys vice president Stephen Jones believes at least one of the placating measures will be repealed.
Jones is not a proponent of the new rule that allows coaches to challenge pass interference calls. The rule was put in place in May, and so far this season all it’s done is frustrate coaches and players alike.
“I think this pass interference challenge, I’m really not a fan of it. It’s too judgmental,” Jones said recently in Fort Worth. “I was the last member of the committee to finally sign off on it. I think we did the ultimate scratch-the-itch with the New Orleans game with what happened with (Saints coach) Sean Payton and they lost that game.”
Jones is referring to the controversial no call of what was a flagrant pass interference by the LA Rams in the waning minutes of the 2018 NFC title game in New Orleans. The Saints were on the wrong end of the play, and it directly influenced the outcome of the game.
The replay challenge was put in place to prevent such an error from occurring again, but thus far the results from the new rule have been sporadic. Replay officials are not reversing the calls, even when they are obvious.
Coaches were warned in training camp that the league did not want pass interference calls challenged, and it was going to require something extremely obvious to overturn the call. During the preseason, the league was trying to send a message to coaches not to bother challenging the pass interference calls, because they were not going to overturn them.
As the season has progressed, even the obvious evidence has not changed the original ruling on the field.
As a result, Jones hopes the rule is changed.
“I hope they take the challenge away from the judgment calls, the offensive and defensive pass interference. I’m going to be a big fan of hoping that goes away. There’s a good chance it will be,” Jones said. “I think people have been bit both ways. I think half the coaches want to move on from it and half the coaches want more of it. We’ll see what happens, but I don’t think that’s good for our game.”
Jones is one of the eight members who comprise the NFL’s competition committee. In this arena, he is a significant influencer.
He is a firm believer that fans are tired of the flag fests, and excessive challenges. He’s right.
“We’re dealing with human beings here and you’re going to get mistakes. You’re not going to get these calls right (every time),” he said. “I am convinced that our fans want less flags. They don’t want a flag on every play and these guys are too big and physical. I’m a big fan of less calls, less challenges.”
Amen and amen.
Expect this rule, and others, to be up for discussion in the off-season.
What Stephen Jones hopes for is coaches/players/GMs simply accept the reality that not every call is going to be right, nor will every penalty go your way.
“We played in New England up there and we had phantom tripping calls. I promise you, all 32 teams go through something where they thought they got the wrong end of the deal,” Jones said. “I heard where (Patriots coach Bill) Belichick was upset about his game the other day they lost in terms of calls. You’re going to have some go for you, and some against you.”
