Saturday, March 23, 2019

The NFL could learn from the CFL. (NFL/CFL)

All it took for the NFL to finally realize it had a major problem, was for the New Orleans Saints to get screwed out of the NFC Championship by referees that missed an obvious (and completely blatant) pass interference call against the LA Rams. As we all know by now, the Rams went on to win the game and advance to the Super Bowl. There is no doubt in my mind that if the Saints had won, they surely would have won the Super Bowl easily.

In the CFL, a coach is allowed to challenge for pass interference if he feels that there was a missed call. In a lot of circumstances, the call was missed, and the coach was successful in his challenge, getting the call on the field overturned. I personally saw several instances last season alone where this happened, negating what would have been a blown call by the officials. People who only have a passing familiarity with the CFL often criticize it for it's rules and regulations, but even sportscasters and sports writers in the United States have often praised it for this particular set of rules.

Unfortunately with the NFL (also known as the No Fun League), they are hesitant to change things that are huge issues, usually giving the finger to the fans. Commissioner Roger Goodell's attitude and lack of transparency on said NFC Championship game snafu (or lack of even getting around to mention anything about it) speaks volumes on what the NFL thinks about anything aside from the billions of dollars it pulls in from fans and sponsors alike. Imagine if the CFL had that kind of attitude? It would fold very quickly, as sports fans (especially in Canada) are a fickle bunch.

While it's interesting to hear that the NFL is looking into fixing this whole mess with better rules and coaches being able to challenge non-calls, I'll believe it when I see it. No one should be holding their breath on this one, so as long as the money keeps rolling into the NFL's coffers.

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