Instant replay on certain penalties

[LennG]

I sure don't want to open up a can of worms here, but isn't there a way to use Instant Replay to look at certain penalties that do not include judgment, but timing?
For example, in the Chiefs/Bills game yesterday, the Bills were called for PI on a late flag saying the WR had been interfered with after the ball had been thrown. ON replay it clearly showed that the contact, and it was legitimate contact, occurred before the ball was thrown so there should not have been a penalty.
Isn't the goal of replay to get it right? People in NY who monitor this should have signaled the ref that the contact did, in fact, occur before the ball was released, thus NO PI. I'm sure there are several more, but this one just stands out. They use replay to get calls right even when the refs got it wrong, so why not something like this? It is NOT a judgment play, like holding, or if it is PI or not, but this is timing, to me, the same as if a guy gets off the field in time, replay can be used for that. When it is so clear that the ball wasn't thrown when the contact occured, NY should have signaled the ref to that fact.

[Bob In PA]

Lenn: There should be.  Some penalties are not a matter of judgment but rather one of observation.

The argument "for" is that refs can't see everything and it's not fair for a team to get away with a penalty because the official in question simply had too many things to try to watch at once.

The argument "against" is.... well, I don't see any except it might slow the game.  My counter to that is... in the final two minutes when all reviews are conducted in NY there is only the delay of the referee going to the sideline and essentially picking up the phone.  To my knowledge, a "main office" ruling has never delayed the game by more than two minutes.

Bob

[zephirus]

The NFL typically does allow for non-judgement call penalties to be challenged.  In this particular case I'm not sure it would have made much of a difference except yardage?  Even if it wasn't pass interference because the ball had yet to be thrown, the contact definitely rose to the level of illegal contact or holding.  Either way its 5 yards and a fresh set of downs.  It's a fair question because you can certainly challenge other aspects - like if pass interference is called you can challenge whether the ball was tipped, which negates the pass interference.

[kartanoman]

The NFL typically does allow for non-judgement call penalties to be challenged.  In this particular case I'm not sure it would have made much of a difference except yardage?  Even if it wasn't pass interference because the ball had yet to be thrown, the contact definitely rose to the level of illegal contact or holding.  Either way its 5 yards and a fresh set of downs.  It's a fair question because you can certainly challenge other aspects - like if pass interference is called you can challenge whether the ball was tipped, which negates the pass interference.

This is true. I guess, to Lenn's point, you could also challenge whether the receiver had gone the full five yards or not so the Bills could claim rightful contact within five of the line of scrimmage.

There was a lot of jersey grabbing, pushing behind the back and cheap shots when players were down during the game. I guess that's the "gamesmanship" element the refs determine whether to call the game tight or let them play. In either case, whatever they decide is fine as long as they are consistent throughout the game.

Peace!

[MightyGiants]

If the Bills hadn't stopped the Chiefs again, I think people would be talking about this blown call a lot more than they are.