Upon Further Review, Bring It Back

Did somebody say “instant replay?”

OK, so Ronald McDonald probably couldn’t make heads or tails of this season’s NFL officiating. Hopefully the league owners will at their meeting in March.

In the last three weeks alone, NFL games have been decided by:

* a botched coin flip in which the official’s only defense could have been something like, “You know sonny, I don’t hear so good anymore.”

* a pass interference call in the end zone with no time remaining--a crime scene that Scully and Mulder are still dusting for finger prints.

* a touchdown that was called with the football resting outside the area code of the end zone--or the Eastern time zone for that matter.

Each of these acts of high larceny were committed by the same officiating crew--with a personnel change or two.

These officials don’t need to singled out, however. There has been plenty of bad officiating to go around--and around and around.

And where the madness stops, well, the owners know. Twenty four votes will be required for passage for the return of instant replay to the NFL.

The seven teams that have consistently voted against replay are Arizona, Buffalo, Chicago, Cincinnati, Kansas City, New York Giants and Tampa Bay. Another team, San Diego, voted against replay last year only because General Manager Bobby Beathard didn’t like the proposed coaches’ challenge system.

You can strike Buffalo off the “nay” list--Bills owner Ralph Wilson could be fined as much as $50,000 for criticizing the officiating in his team’s loss to New England last week. The NFL told the Bills that officials should have called Patriot wide receiver Shawn Jefferson out of bounds on a critical fourth-down play, and that pass interference should not have been called on Drew Bledsoe’s split-fingered delivery to Terry Glenn in the end zone.

Some consolation.

Arizona can come off too. The Cardinals lost to Dallas when an official was so mesmerized by Kevin Smith’s mauling of Rob Moore in the end zone with no time remaining that he couldn’t reach for his flag. Or maybe he was just resting his eyes.

Detroit Lion Coach Bobby Ross has seen enough.

His Lions were victimized by several incorrect officiating calls in a Thanksgiving game with Pittsburgh before an incredible twist of fate--a botched coin flip--allowed them to get the ball in overtime and win.

“The game is very fast,” said Ross, a major proponent of replay. “I’m not so much attacking [the officials]; I’m putting in an argument for replay.”

Fair enough, Bobby. But have you noticed those “You Make the Call” segments have seemed to have disappeared from NFL telecasts this season?

Coincidence? We don’t think so.

HE BETTER NOT HAVE CHANGE OF HEART

Wilson, meanwhile, got a token of appreciation from his players on Sunday--the game ball from the Bills’ 33-20 victory over the Bengals in Cincinnati.

It was the players’ way of thanking their 80-year-old owner for telling it like it is--the Bills were robbed by the officials last week.

“They just like him,” Coach Wade Phillips said. “He signs their checks. I like him too. I think they felt he backed the team. That’s why they gave him the game ball.”

Said quarterback Doug Flutie: “We all appreciated Ralph’s comments. That says a lot. He stands up for the team when we have to bite our tongues. We really appreciated it.”

Wilson said last week’s controversial calls changed his thinking about replay.

“I’m going to give that a lot of serious thought about modifying it,” Wilson said. “Perhaps there could be some sort of challenge system. That’s something everybody will have different ideas on from the competition committee. But something has to be done.”

Officials were on their best behavior in Cincinnati as there were no controversial calls.

“I thought the game today was very well reffed,” Wilson said.

Ralph, we’re taking back your game ball.

THIS WOULDN’T HAPPEN IN FLUSHING MEADOW

OK, there was some controversy in Cincinnati.

The Bengals were booed by fans last week as they came off the field after a loss to Baltimore.

On Sunday, there was more booing and about two dozen banners demanding change in the organization fluttering about Cinergy Field.

Bengal President and General Manager Mike Brown was the primary target of the angry fans. Late in the first half, a banner was briefly lowered from the upper deck in front of Brown’s booth that read, “If It’s Brown, Flush It Down.”

Brown had no outward reaction to the banners. He has said repeatedly that he won’t give up control of the team, which has lost eight in a row and is 38-87 without a winning record since he took over in 1991.

There had been an attempt to organize a massive walkout by Bengal fans at the start of the second half.

Only a handful got up and participated--apparently joined by the Bengal offense which had no first downs in the third quarter.

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Compiled by Jim Rhode

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

PASSING

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Player, Team Att Cmp Yds TD V. TESTAVERDE, Jets 63 42 418 2 JOHN ELWAY, Broncos 32 22 400 2 R. CUNNINGHAM, Vikings 31 21 349 4 DREW BLEDSOE, Patriots 34 21 327 1 DOUG FLUTIE, Bills 30 18 319 2 STEVE STENSTROM, Bears 42 25 303 1 CHRIS CHANDLER, Falcons 28 20 297 2 JON KITNA, Seahawks 24 17 278 2 JAKE PLUMMER, Cardinals 40 18 263 1 RICH GANNON, Chiefs 43 27 240 3 KERRY COLLINS, Saints 28 16 239 2 S. BEUERLEIN, Panthers 33 18 235 3

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RUSHING

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Player, Team No Yds TD FRED TAYLOR, Jaguars 32 183 2 GARRISON HEARST, 49ers 20 139 1 JAMAL ANDERSON, Falcons 30 122 1 RECEIVING Player, Team No Yds TD ERIC MOULDS, Bills 6 196 2 TERRY GLENN, Patrots 9 193 1 ROD SMITH, Broncos 8 165 0 TONY MARTIN, Falcons 7 140 1 BOBBY ENGRAM, Bears 9 140 1 RANDY MOSS, Vikings 8 106 3

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