Proofreading Process
• Replay continues to be a major topic of discussion at all of these events. And as the league entered that meeting in Manhattan, much of that discussion focused on replay attendance.
Two games, in particular, involving NFC West rivals in Week 6, held up and were compared to each other. The first involved Rams DB Josh Wallace, flagged for unnecessary roughness for forced contact with the head/neck area of Cardinals WR Jalen Brooks, a flag that put Arizona in range for a game-winning field goal with 41 seconds left. The second was a no-call against 49ers LB Fred Warner, who blasted Commanders TE Chig Okonkwo over the middle. A flag was thrown, then picked up.
It is my understanding that the NFL believes the flag should have remained raised and that the officials did receive the call to Wallace, according to the letter of the law. This made me curious about what Proofreading Assistance could do in this situation.
So I asked. And I got a complete list, via the slides they show to owners and trainers, of what is allowed under the system.
It started with this list of potential reviews: runner crossing the line to win, whether a pass hit the ground on a set catch, whether feet are in bounds on a catch/no-catch, ineligible player down, point of application of a penalty, game clock adjustment, whether a ball is loose before a runner enters the end zone, to notify an official when a receiver has gone out of bounds and is first to touch the ball, and if a ball broke the plane of the end zone.
In 2024, the rules added unnecessary roughness to out-of-bounds players, intentional holds, and roughness to the passer. Last year, face masks, horse collars, tripping, tipped balls while hitting/running into the kicker, and, yes, contact with a helpless player’s head/neck area were added. Others have been released this year (like crackbacks and cuts).
This means that yes, New York had a chance to weigh in on these calls before the 20-second limit.
And if you consider Warner’s call a missed call, and Wallace’s call, while missing colliding with Warner’s hit, as the letter of the law provides, there really is no inconsistency. The league is also fortunate that the Commanders scored on the possession where Warner’s hit occurred, so the outcome of the game was not affected.
That said, the league is reviewing this issue and making ongoing plans for greater transparency. I’m told the NFL has been closely watching how the ACC and, after the Michigan-Western Michigan debacle, the Big Ten began televising their replay review process. The idea of doing something similar to show public replays is being discussed, and work is underway to implement something similar to what we’ve seen in college football. very soon, potentially in the coming weeks, and certainly (some in the league office hope) before the end of the regular season.
Fines for coaches
• In the meeting room, the league addressed the growing tension between coaches, players and on-field officials. They cited examples, including this news: Patriots coach Mike Vrabel, Jets coach Aaron Glenn and Eagles coach Nick Sirianni were fined $250,000 for conduct toward officials.
Of course, this is a pretty severe penalty and a clear statement. I also heard that the fines are pending, meaning they will be suspended and may be rescinded upon good behavior.
As executive vice president of football operations, Troy Vincent also mentioned in his press briefing a discussion about sportsmanship in the game, following discussions with the NFLPA about celebration fines that were imposed and then overturned (Kyle Juszczyk’s being the largest of them) earlier in the year.
Steve Tisch
• Steve Tisch, involved in the Epstein files, was visible at the downtown hotel where the meetings were held. Earlier this year, Tisch was forced to sign over his stake in the Giants to his children after the league said it was looking into his involvement in the Epstein affair.
Yet Tisch is still listed as president and executive vice president of the Giants on the team’s website, and he was present in the team’s draft room and training camp.
Earlier this year, it seemed like the NFL would have liked Tisch to step aside so the story could play out quietly. He very clearly chose not to do so, and the only significant change observed was the sort of acceleration of estate planning that was the transfer of his franchise shares to his next of kin. So I asked Commissioner Roger Goodell, during his press conference on Thursday, about the status of the case, his view on the fact that Tisch remains so visible.
“I think we’re comfortable with his participation as the Giants are suggesting,” Goodell said, adding that, regarding the investigation, “we’ll always look to see if there’s any new information.”
Jalen hurts
• The NFL attempted to close the record on the Jalen Hurts situation during these meetings, but very clearly, the NFLPA was not going to allow that to happen – not this quickly, anyway.
The union called for a thorough investigation on Tuesday.
Goodell responded during his press conference that he would welcome one.
We talked about it in Tuesday’s notesbut it’s worth rehashing, quickly. Hurts traveled Friday night through Saturday with the Eagles in London. He, like all his teammates, was told to stay up until Saturday to acclimatize for Sunday’s 2:30 p.m. local time (9:30 a.m. Philadelphia time) kickoff. He did it. But his calf pain, which he thought was coming from a cramp the week before, got worse. So team doctors examined him, took him to the Cleveland Clinic in London, and an ultrasound discovered the superficial clot.
He didn’t sleep well because of the time in the hospital and the situation in general before the game, but he still slept. He played. He returned home.
What’s less clear is exactly how he was allowed to fly. And I can say, speaking to other sports doctors, that the way this decision was made is key: “Even if he had had another ultrasound before taking the flight home and it was totally stable, I would still have put a brick to put him on that plane,” he texted.
Regardless, I think the union is right that an investigation is warranted, even if the player’s camp is good with the way Hurts was handled (it sounds like they are, but they’re not doctors either). If only to make sure they learn what they can from a unique situation.
International Games
• Regarding international games, I would circle 2028 as a potential date for the NFL to consider going to Tokyo.
The timeline to look at here is that of Australia. They announced this Super Bowl matchup in February 2025, more than a year and a half in advance, to give everyone enough lead to plan. If the NFL followed this model with Japan, it would announce plans to travel there during this year’s Super Bowl and then play there at the start of the 2028 season. Which I think is possible at this point – it won’t happen next year.
As for other new frontiers, some teams love the idea of going to Italy next, but that may not happen until new stadiums open in Milan (2030) and Rome (2031), ahead of Euro 2032. Then there’s the idea raised by the NFL’s Peter O’Reilly of playing in new cities in countries where the league already has a presence, such as potentially Manchester in the UK, Barcelona (which has a stadium under renovation) in Spain or Sydney in Australia.
Preseason games
• One of the most staggering numbers I’ve heard is the 28.9% no-show rate for preseason games, meaning more than a quarter of people who buy tickets don’t show up to games. That’s a crazy number, considering how expensive tickets are, and it shows that season ticket holders view preseason tickets almost as a tax they have to pay, and that those tickets have very little value on the secondary market.
Another number Vincent revealed in his press release shows one reason why: About 40 percent of the league’s starters haven’t played a single preseason game this summer.
Fast hitters
• And finally, some household chores…
Sales of Dolphins and Falcons slices have been approved. Atlanta owner Arthur Blank is selling 10 percent of his franchise to private equity firm Arctos, and the majority of that deal, a 7.5 percent slice of the total, was approved without discussion. Miami owner Stephen Ross also sold 2% of the Dolphins to new sponsor Jean Salata and also bought out the 0.1% of the team that singer/actor Marc Anthony owned. Anthony, you will recall, was part of the team’s plan to bring celebrities into ownership early in Ross’s tenure.
And funding for the new Browns stadium and renovation of Levi’s Stadium in the Bay Area was approved. Cleveland’s new stadium, a suburban dome, is expected to open in 2029. The 49ers are spending $37.4 million to renovate their suites.
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