Mike Florio ,
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There’s an important footnote to the Sunday night trick play that was a little too tricky for the rulebook. And it’s something the NFL needs to address, sooner than later.
On Wednesday, Lions coach Dan Campbell said he was told the illegal motion call that wiped out a Jared Goff touchdown reception came from New York .
After the game, referee Craig Wrolstad denied in a pool report that outside help was used to drop the flag. Which had to be the official position. The situation wasn’t reviewable. Under the rules as written, outside help was not allowed. If the officials missed it, they missed it.
And so, if Campbell’s interpretation of the explanation is accurate, the NFL used an incorrect procedure to get to the correct result.
On the surface, that’s fine. It’s always better to be right than wrong. But the device that the league implemented (per Campbell) opens Pandora’s box. Especially as to one specific play.
The prevailing 2025 narrative as to the tush push has been that it’s very difficult to officiate. As evidenced by routine replays of Eagles offensive linemen firing off before the snap.
Well, if New York can tell Wrolstad to drop a flag more than a minute after an illegal motion foul occurred in Kansas City, why can’t New York tell the referee to penalize the Eagles for false starts that the on-field officials missed?
Remember what Commissioner Roger Goodell said, before the NFL learned to stop worrying and love the vig: “If gambling is permitted freely on sporting events, normal incidents of the game such as bad snaps, dropped passes, turnovers, penalties, and play calling inevitably will fuel speculation, distrust, and accusations of point-shaving or game-fixing .”
Dropping a flag in violation of clear league protocol is anything but a “normal incident of the game.” How can it not fuel speculation and distrust?
As to the tush push, the league office could do the same thing. Of course, breaking protocol to call for a flag remotely would cut against the “too hard to officiate” narrative, perhaps making it harder to get the two extra votes needed in the offseason to get rid of the tush push.
Regardless, it’s critical that the rules as written be respected. Failure to do so creates clear inconsistencies. Failure to admit that it happened undermines transparency.
Lack of consistency and transparency are the two things that, in an age or legalized, normalized, and heavily monetized sports betting, can directly result in normal (and abnormal) incidents of the game becoming grist for the “speculation, distrust and accusations of point-shaving or game-fixing” mill.
The easiest solution? Empower the replay assistant and the league office to help the game officials as to any and calls they have missed, with the clear goal of getting as many calls right as possible.
Ideally, the NFL eventually will make the changes needed to ensure that the officials get all calls right. That starts with allowing the procedure that corrected Sunday night’s mistake to be used whenever the officials miss a call in real time.
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