Now what?
All the television replay cameras and coaching challenges and officials’ huddles and all-star referees have failed.
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An NFL playoff game ended with an improper call. Commissioner Paul Tagliabue has labeled it “unacceptable.” This is worse than the “tuck rule” that ultimately won last season’s Super Bowl for the New England Patriots.
Arcane and convoluted as that was, and as much as the Oakland Raiders still protest that Tom Brady fumbled, the NFL admits no wrong on that call. The tuck is part of the rulebook and was enforced properly, according to any NFL official you ask.
But the Giants fiasco revealed a total breakdown of the system, an inexcusable breach of security, an egregious mistake that cannot be undone by all the king’s horses and all the king’s men.
Why don’t they fly the Giants back to San Francisco for one last bad snap? Didn’t the Miami Dolphins once have to come out of their locker room in New England for one last play?
How can the playoffs continue? The winner of Super Bowl XXXVII will have to add an asterisk. Is there a Roman asterisk?
The victimized Giants at least should get to present the trophy. And just in case anyone thinks this whole incident isn’t completely out of hand, New Jersey Assemblyman Anthony Impreveduto wants the league to allow the state to host a Super Bowl and called on the head of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which runs Giants Stadium, to begin legal action against the NFL.
“New Jersey taxpayers may have been cheated of tax revenue the state would have earned from players’ income and other Giants-related enterprises had the team advanced in the playoffs,” Impreveduto said in his letter to George Zoffinger, the sports authority president.
Truly a shame, and the shame is this: The game was forgotten. Instead of remembering the Giants’ great choke or the 49ers’ great comeback, the focus is on the officiating.
Thankfully, Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi pointed out the officials neither built the Giants’ 24-point lead nor took it away. Yet Accorsi’s perspective is buried in the aftermath of what the league should do now.
Tagliabue has decreed that no game should end until a committee convenes at midfield and passes a motion to adjourn. Maybe dreaded pass interference should be reviewed by replay after all, perhaps leaving the decision to one of those instant online polls, thus extending games from hours to days like cricket. While the NFL is at it, the BCS can review the end of the Ohio State-Miami game.
Back judge Scott Green should have flagged the 49ers’ Chike Okeafor for interfering with eligible receiver Rich Seubert. If Green had done that, he would have taken Trey Junkin off the hook for another errant snap. He would have absolved holder Matt Allen from turning to his fourth option after forgetting his first three.
If only Green had done his job, Giants kicker Matt Bryant suddenly would have become reliable from the same spot where he badly shanked a previous attempt. Jeff Garcia’s inspired comeback would have been erased. All the stupid penalties for taunting and late hitting on the 49ers’ Terrell Owens and the Giants’ Shaun Williams–the game’s version of Dumb and Dumber–could have been excused.
What should the NFL do indeed? Admitting the mistake as director of officiating Mike Pereira did was a refreshing start. Urging officials to be more aware of fakes by changing some positioning was another change. A stockade in Times Square is the next step.
How about moving on?
But wasn’t instant replay supposed to solve everything? Wasn’t it designed precisely to “avoid the catastrophic error” that could cost a team a game?
Yes, and it was designed and operated by human beings, who rightly restricted its use so that every single play isn’t subject to investigation and approval. Was that holding? Let’s take a look at the helmet camera. Let’s check the computerized gloves to determine whether the fingers were extended improperly.
Replay couldn’t have saved the Giants in this instance, but replay does promote the myth that mistakes can be avoided. The Bears remember too well that the only game ever actually decided by replay was their 1989 loss to Green Bay 14-13, and the league later discovered it was decided improperly. So even if replay were expanded to cover everything including the circus ending to the Giants-49ers game, there are no guarantees.
It was the late general manager of the Giants, George Young, who argued against the use of replay for years, saying, “We’re trying to remove the human element of the game by adding more humans.”
That there are no guarantees is part of the beauty of sport, ugly mistakes included. Officiating always will depend on the judgment of human beings, who always will be fallible. There were enough mistakes at the end of the Giants-49ers game to keep every player and official humble.
Coaches always talk about eliminating mistakes, and they never do because they never can. Mistakes are one of the constants of sport, regardless of technology or caution. Somehow, that provides a sense of comfort.
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