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NFL Soap Opera
Aired January 17, 2003 - 13:48 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Blown calls and endless discussions seemed to characterize the playoffs. Now comes the all-important conference championships. Let's talk about the problems with Josh Elliot. He covers the NFL for "Sports Illustrated."
Hi, Josh.
JOSH ELLIOTT, "SPORTS ILLUSTRATED": Hi there, how are you?
PHILLIPS: Are refs under siege here?
ELLIOTT: To a certain extent they are, and it's really not fair. For example, if you look at last week's games, yes, some questionable calls played a part in the Tennessee-Pittsburgh games.
But the other three games were officiated wonderfully. It's just these calls are coming late in games, and on the national playoff stage, they seem more important than they actually are.
PHILLIPS: What's hurting football's credibility more? A few blown calls, or endless analysis and discussions and replays? It seems like that's all you see nowadays?
ELLIOTT: I think that the 24-hour news hole is hurting the NFL's credibility as much as anything. We need something to talk about. The games themselves have been awfully exciting, but when these calls factor -- again, late in games, you're going to see endless, you know, analysis and discussion. The NFL actually took a very interesting and very quick stance on this after the Giants-San Francisco game in the first round of the playoffs, admitting their mistakes. I think when the NFL came out and admitted some mistakes, and it spun everything in motion, and apparently, we cannot get enough of it.
PHILLIPS: Do you think that everyone understands the challenge rule?
ELLIOTT: You know, it's a good question. I think that referee, if nothing else, made the mistake by popping his mic on and telling 68,000 people in Nashville and a national television audience that he's not sure if something could be reviewed or not. I think if he could have kept that to himself, called upstairs, it probably would have spared the league and that referee a bit of embarrassment, but overall, I think, you know, we ask our lawyers -- we don't ask our lawyers to remember every piece of law. They go to their books all the time.
I don't have a problem with officials discussing and making sure that the call is correct.
PHILLIPS: Why not just play and assume or hope that rotten calls will just even out?
ELLIOTT: Again, I think because you have the technology to review plays. I think you -- it's also important that, again, because you get calls correct, that you get them correct if you can.
However, you have to allow for human error. Bill Cowher chasing the ref after the game in Tennessee was sort of ridiculous in that his team benefited from an equally horrible call earlier in the game that allowed Pittsburgh to go ahead and then be tied at the end. So these calls do even out, it's just that when you will you team loses in the end, you don't have a chance for it to even out until next year.
PHILLIPS: I'm Dan Reeves was quoted as saying in this article I was reading, "I don't think that referees strive for perfection anymore."
ELLIOTT: I think, again, that's another coach that's going only home, but also, I think that speaks to the fact that instant replay is sort of a Big Brother hanging over all of the refs' shoulders. They realize that, you know, regardless of the call they make, that it's going to be reviewed in super duper slow-mo over and over and over again. And I think it's in the back of their minds when they throw their flags.
I think, also, another thing that's getting lost here, is that in the playoffs, these official crews have not been together like they were in the regular season. These are the referee all-stars, if you will. So you don't really see the cohesion or the communication that you might necessarily see between a regular season crew, and that can also lead to some questionable calls, because they're not really talking about it with each other.
PHILLIPS: Behind the scenes what do the refs do? I'm not real -- I don't know a lot about this. Do they review the game? Do they go over all this the stuff? Do they really spend time trying to make sure, yes, I'm going to make the right call?
ELLIOTT: No question. People say, why don't we have full time referees? Now, if having 200 old men sitting in a conference room in New York in April, poring over the rulebooks would make everybody happy, OK, but during the regular season, they are full-time referees. During the week, they review themselves, they review game tape, they review the rulebook constantly. So really, they are putting, on top of regular jobs, they're putting dozens and dozens and dozens of hours into their job come Sunday.
So, I think again, during the season, we're getting full-time officials; it's just a question of how much full time is going to make people happy.
PHILLIPS: You have to think about the size of the field, the speed of the game. These all add elements, too.
Josh Elliott, "Sports Illustrated" appreciate it. Look forward to Sunday. We'll talk to you after the games, all right?
ELLIOTT: Wonderful. Wonderful.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 17, 2003 - 13:48 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Blown calls and endless discussions seemed to characterize the playoffs. Now comes the all-important conference championships. Let's talk about the problems with Josh Elliot. He covers the NFL for "Sports Illustrated."
Hi, Josh.
JOSH ELLIOTT, "SPORTS ILLUSTRATED": Hi there, how are you?
PHILLIPS: Are refs under siege here?
ELLIOTT: To a certain extent they are, and it's really not fair. For example, if you look at last week's games, yes, some questionable calls played a part in the Tennessee-Pittsburgh games.
But the other three games were officiated wonderfully. It's just these calls are coming late in games, and on the national playoff stage, they seem more important than they actually are.
PHILLIPS: What's hurting football's credibility more? A few blown calls, or endless analysis and discussions and replays? It seems like that's all you see nowadays?
ELLIOTT: I think that the 24-hour news hole is hurting the NFL's credibility as much as anything. We need something to talk about. The games themselves have been awfully exciting, but when these calls factor -- again, late in games, you're going to see endless, you know, analysis and discussion. The NFL actually took a very interesting and very quick stance on this after the Giants-San Francisco game in the first round of the playoffs, admitting their mistakes. I think when the NFL came out and admitted some mistakes, and it spun everything in motion, and apparently, we cannot get enough of it.
PHILLIPS: Do you think that everyone understands the challenge rule?
ELLIOTT: You know, it's a good question. I think that referee, if nothing else, made the mistake by popping his mic on and telling 68,000 people in Nashville and a national television audience that he's not sure if something could be reviewed or not. I think if he could have kept that to himself, called upstairs, it probably would have spared the league and that referee a bit of embarrassment, but overall, I think, you know, we ask our lawyers -- we don't ask our lawyers to remember every piece of law. They go to their books all the time.
I don't have a problem with officials discussing and making sure that the call is correct.
PHILLIPS: Why not just play and assume or hope that rotten calls will just even out?
ELLIOTT: Again, I think because you have the technology to review plays. I think you -- it's also important that, again, because you get calls correct, that you get them correct if you can.
However, you have to allow for human error. Bill Cowher chasing the ref after the game in Tennessee was sort of ridiculous in that his team benefited from an equally horrible call earlier in the game that allowed Pittsburgh to go ahead and then be tied at the end. So these calls do even out, it's just that when you will you team loses in the end, you don't have a chance for it to even out until next year.
PHILLIPS: I'm Dan Reeves was quoted as saying in this article I was reading, "I don't think that referees strive for perfection anymore."
ELLIOTT: I think, again, that's another coach that's going only home, but also, I think that speaks to the fact that instant replay is sort of a Big Brother hanging over all of the refs' shoulders. They realize that, you know, regardless of the call they make, that it's going to be reviewed in super duper slow-mo over and over and over again. And I think it's in the back of their minds when they throw their flags.
I think, also, another thing that's getting lost here, is that in the playoffs, these official crews have not been together like they were in the regular season. These are the referee all-stars, if you will. So you don't really see the cohesion or the communication that you might necessarily see between a regular season crew, and that can also lead to some questionable calls, because they're not really talking about it with each other.
PHILLIPS: Behind the scenes what do the refs do? I'm not real -- I don't know a lot about this. Do they review the game? Do they go over all this the stuff? Do they really spend time trying to make sure, yes, I'm going to make the right call?
ELLIOTT: No question. People say, why don't we have full time referees? Now, if having 200 old men sitting in a conference room in New York in April, poring over the rulebooks would make everybody happy, OK, but during the regular season, they are full-time referees. During the week, they review themselves, they review game tape, they review the rulebook constantly. So really, they are putting, on top of regular jobs, they're putting dozens and dozens and dozens of hours into their job come Sunday.
So, I think again, during the season, we're getting full-time officials; it's just a question of how much full time is going to make people happy.
PHILLIPS: You have to think about the size of the field, the speed of the game. These all add elements, too.
Josh Elliott, "Sports Illustrated" appreciate it. Look forward to Sunday. We'll talk to you after the games, all right?
ELLIOTT: Wonderful. Wonderful.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
