Zebra Report: 'Instant' Replays No More

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Did anyone else think it took entirely too long for that Monday night game between the Saints and Falcons to conclude? Obviously, a game will be extended toward the end when a team is desperately trying to get back into it, as the Falcons were. But this was different. There were five challenges in the fourth quarter alone, and, in my opinion, they all took far too long.

In all situations, the most important thing from the perspective of an official is that the correct call be made. In these five cases, that's what happened (with the possible exception of Mike Bell's fumble, but that was one of those calls that was so tough to see, it wouldn't have been overturned no matter the call the on the field).

However, these replays seemed to reveal some problems with the officiating crew -- which is a quite maligned crew amongst those in the know.

Both the Roddy White "touchdown" (which was correctly reversed) and the Matt Ryan "fumble" at the two-minute warning (which was also correctly reversed and ruled an incomplete pass) seemed pretty obvious in fast motion to me. And I'm watching from an incredibly wide camera angle.

The back judge was about three feet away from White and staring at the ball. How did he not see it gliding along the ground before White pulled it in? And why did it take referee Jeff Tripplette about three minutes to arrive at the obvious conclusion?

Tripplette is watching the quarterback on every passing play. Did he really think a fumble went flying forward that quickly, even considering Ryan's arm was moving forward with the ball? This was a textbook case of the tuck-rule ... without the tuck! Ryan's arm was moving forward and released the football. And, again, what took so long with the replay? It was obvious to everyone but the seemingly oblivious-to-the-rules Jon Gruden, who was in the Monday Night Football booth.

The Michael Jenkins catch was a perfect illustration of how replay works. I don't think we can expect human beings watching in full speed to see that Jenkins actually dotted both toes a millimeter in-bounds, considering the rest of his 6-foot-4 frame was stretched all the way out of bounds and nearly touching the ground. After review, they correctly called it a completed pass, but it still seemed to take far too long to arrive at the conclusion that was obvious in slow-motion.

Getting the call correct is the most important thing, but the time it takes to arrive at the correct conclusion should have some element of timeliness involved as well, especially when the correct call seems apparent to the entire viewing audience.

Other Officiating Items From Week 9

- In the Bears-Browns game, it appeared the Bears were incredibly close to garnering a safety on two consecutive plays, but it was very tough to tell exactly where the ball should have been spotted. Soloman Wilcots, who was calling color for CBS, did a horrible job of explaining the rule to the viewing audience by saying, "all the ball has to do is break the plane of the goal line." I do think he knows the rule and just didn't elaborate enough on his point. It's not like a touchdown where the front point of the ball needs to only touch the front of the goal line. On a safety, the entire ball must clear the entire line -- it makes sense if you think about how a safety is the opposite of a touchdown. Plus, think about how the ball is spotted. The officials spot the football exactly where it was at its farthest point. Have you seen a ball spotted with any part of it touching the goal line? What if you did? How stupid would it look? There's a reason for that.

- Late in the Colts-49ers game, the Colts scored a touchdown to go up 18-14 and decided to go for the two-point conversion. The Niners were scrambling to get the correct personnel on the field and ended up having to take a timeout. But referee Ed Hochuli explained they had the right to get their personnel set and would not be charged a timeout. Here's the rule they used (5-2-10):

If a substitution is made by the offense, the offense shall not be permitted to snap the ball until the defense has been permitted to respond with its substitutions.

I'd have to assume the Colts lingered around like they'd kick an extra point and then decided to go for two, in the eyes of the officials. Thus, they applied this clause and gave the Niners time to match up personnel.

- Derrick Mason was infuriated by a non-pass interference call in the Ravens win over the Broncos. Just in case you need a refresher on the guidelines, read point No. 3 by clicking here. For those who watched the game, do you think Mason had a legitimate beef? Feel free to leave your comments.

- Will Brinson raised a legitimate hypothetical question: What if a receiver draws a pass interference call, yet still catches the pass -- almost always, his team will decline the penalty -- but, what if, after the declination, the defense challenges the call and the catch is overturned and ruled incomplete? Can the offense go back and accept the penalty? I'm sorry to report that I can't find an explicit situation like this in the rulebook -- because replay procedures aren't included in the rulebook -- but I'm pretty sure that a team can still change their decision on a penalty as long as the next play hasn't been run. I'll say 99 percent sure. Generally speaking, any time a penalty has been committed on your team by another, you get to receive the maximum legal benefit in return. Making you take an incomplete pass when your receiver was interfered with is not in the spirit of the rule.

Got a rules-related question? Whether it's elementary, high school or NFL, email TZR and he'll see what he can do.