There is an important footnote regarding the Sunday night trick game that was a little too tricky for the rulebook. And that’s something the NFL needs to address sooner rather than later.
On Wednesday, Lions coach Dan Campbell said he was made aware of the illegal motion call that wiped out a Jared Goff touchdown reception. I came from New York.
After the match, referee Craig Wrolstad denied in a pool report that outside assistance had been used to drop the flag. This must have been the official position. The situation could not be revised. Under the rules as written, outside help was not allowed. If the officials missed it, they missed it.
And so, if Campbell’s interpretation of the explanation is correct, the NFL used an incorrect procedure to arrive at the correct result.
On the surface, it’s good. It is always better to be right than wrong. But the system implemented by the league (according to Campbell) opens Pandora’s box. Especially when it comes to a specific piece.
The dominant narrative in 2025 regarding the surge is that it is very difficult to officiate. As evidenced by routine replays of Eagles offensive linemen shooting before the snap.
Well, if New York can tell Wrolstad to drop a flag more than a minute after an illegal moving foul occurred in Kansas City, why can’t New York tell the referee to penalize the Eagles for false starts missed by on-field officials?
Remember what Commissioner Roger Goodell said, before the NFL learned to stop worrying and love the vig: “If play is allowed freely at sporting events, normal incidents of play such as bad snaps, dropped passes, turnovers, penalties and play calls. will inevitably fuel speculation, mistrust and accusations of point theft or game-fixing..”
Dropping a flag in violation of clear league protocol is anything but a “normal incident of the game.” How can we avoid fueling speculation and mistrust?
As for the push, the league office could do the same thing. Of course, breaking protocol to call a flag remotely would fly in the face of the “too difficult to officiate” narrative, perhaps making it harder to get the two extra votes needed in the offseason to get rid of the surge.
Regardless, it is essential that the rules as written are followed. Failure to do so creates obvious inconsistencies. Failure to admit that this happened compromises transparency.
Lack of consistency and transparency are the two things that, in an era where sports betting is legalized, normalized, and heavily monetized, can directly lead to normal (and abnormal) incidents of gambling becoming grist for the mill of “speculation, distrust, and accusations of point theft or game-fixing.”
The simplest solution? Empower the replay assistant and league office to assist game officials with calls they missed, with the clear goal of getting as many calls correct as possible.
Ideally, the NFL will eventually make the necessary changes to ensure officials receive all calls correctly. That starts by allowing the procedure that corrected Sunday night’s error to be used every time officials miss a call in real time.
