NFL replay system bashed after stunning revelation

NFL rules analyst Terry McAulay was a busy man throughout this week’s Thursday Night Football matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco on Prime Video. But his most notable on-broadcast comments there came after both officials and the NFL command center seemingly messed up a big call in the fourth quarter of the game.

The Seahawks fought back from a 16-3 first-half deficit to make it a one-score game entering the fourth quarter. But on the first play of the quarter, they were seemingly bailed out by officials after punt returner Dee Williams was taken out by his own player fielding a 49ers punt.

At first glance, it looked like the ball may have avoided Williams. But the 49ers decided to challenge the call that the ball didn’t first hit a Seahawks player before being fielded by a 49ers player, which would be a fumble and result in the 49ers getting the ball.

Viewers at home then got a better angle that clearly showed that the ball did indeed hit off of Williams’ hand. However, the NFL command center ruled that the call on the field would stand. McAulay (a former NFL referee who has worked as a rules analyst for Amazon on Thursdays since 2022, in addition to his work in the same role for NBC’s Sunday Night Football since 2018 ) vehemently disagreed with that.

“We’ve seen two different angles where it’s pretty clear it hits the finger of the receiving team player and then there’s a clear recovery,” said McAulay. “I believe this should have been reversed to San Francisco’s football.”

Based on the enhanced angle shown on the Prime Video broadcast, it seemed to be quite clear and obvious that the call on the field should have been overturned. But it turns out that those making the final call in the NFL command center actually didn’t have access to the camera angle fans at home were seeing.

In a follow-up update on the call, McAulay relayed a message from former NFL referee Walt Anderson, who works in the league’s command center. McAulay said Anderson told him the command center did not have access to the camera angle that viewers at home saw.

“I spoke with Walt Anderson in the command center in New York. What they’re telling me is they did not get our enhanced video that we showed of the ball touching the finger,” said McAulay. “What they had was the raw feed from our cameras. And it was not clear and obvious to them that it touched the finger.”

Obviously, it’s quite baffling to hear that the league’s command center, which makes the final call on every NFL review week in and week out throughout the season, didn’t have access to every camera angle needed to make the correct call on the field in this instance. Particularly because the Hawk-Eye replay technology, which was implemented at the start of the 2021 NFL season, was supposed to allow replay officials to access every camera angle instantly .

The missed call from officials ultimately didn’t play much of a factor in the end result. The Seahawks would not score on their following possession, and the 49ers would go on to come away with a 36-24 victory.

But regardless, one has to now question how many other instances there have been over time where replay officials in the NFL command center didn’t have access to enhanced video on a call where it would have been greatly beneficial.

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