As the NFL makes more and more officiating misses subject to replay review, the lingering blind spots become more and more glaring.
It’s time (in fact, it’s long overdue) for missed facemask fouls to be called via replay.
There’s no reason not to do it. Replay currently can be used to undo an erroneous facemask call. Why shouldn’t it be used when a clear and obvious foul was missed?
It happened during the second quarter of Sunday’s NFC Championship, when Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford had his facemask grabbed on a third-down sack that forced a field goal. If the penalty hadn’t been missed, the Rams would have gotten 15 yards and a fresh set of downs.
Some would say the NFL resists using replay to put a flag on the field. From its inception, however, the current replay rules have allowed a penalty to be called for having too many men on the field.
Today, too many things are reviewable to justify omitting something that requires no subjectivity. And it’s eventually going to affect a huge game, in a huge spot.
It affected today’s huge NFC Championship, ending a potential touchdown drive that could have tied the game at 10 and forcing the Rams to settle for three. And it’s a flaw that can easily be fixed.