Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll believes taking instant replay out of football altogether will improve the sport.
NBC Sports columnist Peter King used his weekly entry to ask 25 “smart NFL people” ranging from coaches and players to journalists and analysts one thing they would change to make football better. Carroll echoed the sentiments of a minority of fans who wish games wouldn’t slow to a crawl to debate calls on the field by writing, “Get rid of—or at least decrease the use of—instant replay.”
But Carroll did not mention the pace of play as a reason why he pines for less replay review.
“I get all the reasons why we have instant replay, and technology has opened up a new world for us to get to this point,” Carroll wrote. “But I miss the human element of trusting the officials to make the calls in the moment and then the rest of us having to live with what they called. It was both fun and frustrating, but I really liked the game better when the officials were just as much a part of the game as the players.”
Carroll’s opinion is likely not a popular one, just months after a blatantly missed penalty in the final minutes of the NFC Championship Game allowed the Los Angeles Rams to come back, force overtime and beat the New Orleans Saints. The series of events changed the trajectory of the 2019 playoffs and caused an outcry from fans who wanted the NFL to make some penalty calls challengeable.
At 67, Carroll is the oldest coach in the NFL and is known around the league as a players’ coach. He led the Seahawks to win Super Bowl XLVIII and is one of three head coaches in history to win both a Super Bowl and a college national championship.
• Adam Zielonka can be reached at azielonka@washingtontimes.com.
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