Pass interference has been football's strike zone.
In other words, for officials, a cockeyed combination of Joyce, Faulkner, Jabberwocky, Dali and whatever goes into a cheap hot dog.
Everyone getting paid to call them turns many into Blue Book tests. They have their own interpretation of what really shouldn't need to be interpreted.
Baseball talks about the robotic strike zone and could be forced to go to it. Maybe it wouldn't have to if it held every single ump accountable to call the same strike zone _ or else find other employers who don't care about obstinance and failing eyesight.
But "or elses" rarely are used.
The NFL _ not to mention all levels of football _ uses officials who have no idea what pass interference is.
But now that a non-PI call on the Rams in the NFC championship game probably cost New Orleans a Super Bowl ticket, the League has listened to the persistent whining of NOLA fans and Saints coach Sean Payton (who during crying breaks doesn't mention his side got away with a facemask on Rams quarterback Jared Goff near the goal line), and is doing something about it.
For the 2019 season only (for now), NFL owners have approved a new rule that will allow offensive and defensive pass interference _ including non-calls _ to be reviewed in the first 28 minutes of each half. Coaches still will have but two challenges.
This is more than a panacea, but hardly a miracle drug. Two challenges aren't giving coaches much to work with. There are more non-calls than anything, and the rule certainly isn't going to teach officials how to call pass interference.
I get so infuriated by PI _ as I do strike zones _ that I have to welcome anything that might help. How the zebras missed the call in Rams-Saints goes beyond their normal state of bungle.
I would like to see an eye in the sky, an extra official up in the booth who can catch a mistake, such as the one in Rams-Saints, call down and say: "We blew this. We have to look at it." The Competition Committee supposedly approved it, but the bosses, probably not wanting to pay another official, didn't go along.
That all scoring plays and turnovers negated by penalties can be reviewed also is a good thing. But they only should look at the call being challenged, nothing else, like a missed holding call.
But two challenges limits a whole lot in a game in which officiating continues to be the story _ especially in this last postseason.
Baseball has a 162-game season, so most blunders fade and go away. But you get 20 games max in the NFL _ fewer in college _ so a mistake becomes the sore thumb.
Anything is welcome. But the NFL has put a balm on an area in need of surgery.
