{"id":418821,"date":"2026-01-20T14:05:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T14:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/418821\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T14:05:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T14:05:09","slug":"news-of-a-team-of-nfl-replay-officials-was-a-surprise-to-nfl-teams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/418821\/","title":{"rendered":"News of a team of NFL replay officials was a surprise to NFL teams"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunday\u2019s appearance by NFL officiating spokesman Walt Anderson on the NFL Network pregame show was must-see TV.<\/p>\n

And it raised more than a few must-answer questions.<\/p>\n

Beyond the obvious (who specifically decided that the controversial interception from Saturday\u2019s Bills-Broncos game didn\u2019t require a full-blown replay review?) another comment from the league\u2019s exclusive rules-explainer caught the attention of the league\u2019s teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have an officiating staff of instant-replay officials<\/a>,\u201d Anderson said in explaining the behind-the-scenes process that resulted in a confirmation of the ruling on the field. \u201cThey have multiple people at the same time reviewing, really, every play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Said a high-level executive from one of the NFL\u2019s teams to PFT: \u201cExplain this to me. Entire staff of replay officials? Who are these people? Why is the first time we are hearing about this entire staff of replay officials?\u201d<\/p>\n

As explained<\/a> on Sunday, the replay process was centralized more than a decade ago to create consistency. It was designed for former NFL senior V.P. of officiating Dean Blandino. And then Blandino left for Fox.<\/p>\n

The job initially went to Al Riveron. After Riveron left (voluntarily or otherwise), it became much murkier. No one knows who\u2019s making the decision, when a formal review occurs. And no one knows who\u2019s making the decision when an expedited review occurs that a full-blown review isn\u2019t needed.<\/p>\n

Now, teams are learning there\u2019s a full staff of unknown individuals who are making these critical decisions.<\/p>\n

By not having one person and only one person making these decisions (especially in high-profile, standalone games), no one is ever truly accountable for the result. It is, as Kyle Brandt said during the NFL Network pregame show, \u201cOrwellian.\u201d<\/p>\n

Big Shield (Brother) probably didn\u2019t appreciate the choice of words. That doesn\u2019t make it any less accurate.<\/p>\n

At a time when the tinfoil-hat crowd has turned into a full-blown, gambling-fueled Reynolds Wrap Army, the current system cries out for an overhaul. The fact that the wagon-circling from Walt Anderson has caused teams to say, basically, \u201cWhat the hell is going on?\u201d only highlights that point.<\/p>\n

The league would prefer that we focus on the next bright, shiny object. Those who truly care about the integrity of the game of professional football would prefer that the league office get its act together regarding a procedure that has massive consequences for teams, players, fans, and \u2014 as Sean McDermott found out on Monday \u2014 coaches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sunday\u2019s appearance by NFL officiating spokesman Walt Anderson on the NFL Network pregame show was must-see TV. And…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":418822,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[349,99],"class_list":["post-418821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}