
Could This Simple Upgrade Make Big Difference In NFL Games?
Football is fun to watch but it can be frustrating when things are left up to the judgement of humans. This possible upgrade could make a world of difference.
The NFL has a million different rules. Just try to explain some of them to someone who hasn't ever watched football before. Unless you've been watching all of your life, it can be very difficult to understand. Where it really gets frustrating though is when some of those rules are based on judgement calls.
The First Down Rule
One of the most basic rules in the game of football includes the first down rule. A team has 4 downs (or plays) to go 10 yards or more. When they pass the 10 yard mark, or what most people call the first down line, they get another 4 downs. They can continue down the field like this until the other team stops them from gaining 10 yards or they score a touchdown.
The problem is that forward progress of the ball is marked by two side judges in the NFL. They stand on the sidelines and visually spot where they think the ball should be spotted. They do their best to mark it accurately but it's easy to lose track of where the ball actually is when a huge crowd is surrounding one player that's holding the ball.
How is there not a better way?
Technology exists now with the help of GPS that can tell you where almost anything on the earth is in real time. You can track your vehicle, your luggage, and even your kids! Are you going to tell me that there isn't a way to put a tracker on a ball to tell whether or not it passed a line on a football field? They can put a yellow line on a field so that we can see the first down line at home. We can see the line of scrimmage. But we can't find a way to see if that ball crossed the line without the visual help of an official that is standing on a sideline almost 25 yards away from the ball?
Think of the possibilities and how much faster the game could go. There wouldn't be different angles to look at or guessing about whether the ball crossed the plane of the goal line. There would be a chip in the ball that simply said if it did, or it didn't.
No guessing. No judgement. Simple facts.
Maybe I'm naive to think that it would be simple. But it's not unheard of. They began to test new technology at the beginning of the season to replace the on field chains but that's the last we heard of it and it isn't yet being used to determine if a first down was achieved. It obviously didn't make it to the NFL this season, but hopefully they'll be able to make some strides to add it before next season.
10 Easy, Make-Ahead Tailgate Recipes For Bills Games
Gallery Credit: YouTube/Canva
More From 106.5 WYRK








