NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has been preaching safety as the league’s primary focus for some time, but now he’s also concerned with perfecting in-game officiating.
The league’s officiating drew much criticism this season, with blown and missed calls, including players being flagged for legal hits, affecting the outcome of more than a few games. Those mistaken calls could lead the NFL to take action heading into next season.
Goodell sat down with NFL Network’s Rich Eisen on NFL Total Access on Monday and discussed potential changes for the league, including making penalized hits reviewable.
“It’s a big call, obviously,” Goodell said. “We’ve had some mistakes made on the field where a player used the right techniques and the flag was thrown.”
With the NFL’s increased focus on player safety, Goodell certainly doesn’t want to give the wrong impression by penalizing players for using the right techniques or delivering safe hits.
“You don’t want that,” Goodell said. “You want to encourage them to make the adjustment, which I think players and coaches have done, and we want to make sure we get it right on the field. I believe that will be a reviewable call. I know the committee is going to study that.”
If the competition committee is just starting to look at the trend this offseason, it’s unlikely the NFL will institute a rule change before the start of the 2014 league year. However, it wouldn’t be shocking if the league also looked into making other penalties reviewable, as Bill Belichick campaigned for earlier this season.
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