Jon Gruden’s Raiders were on the wrong side of one of the most infamous calls in NFL history, one that arguably began an era of football that still continues today. And there’s probably some lingering bitterness from the “Tuck Rule” game that caused the ESPN commentator to recently say he would completely eliminate Instant Replay from the NFL.
“I would eliminate all of it,” Gruden said to Men’s Fitness (of all places). “Everything’s disputed now. Was he inbounds? Was it a turnover? It’s taken the juice out of the stadium. There are too many timeouts. Let the people on the field officiate and hold them accountable. Look, there’s going to be some bang-bang plays that have to be officiated. And who’s going to make the decision? The instant replay man in New York City?”
It’s true that instant replay decisions sometimes do take too long. But with the abundance of technology, and that technology only getting better with each passing day, the only changes that are coming to instant replay are expanding it. Better to get the call right than completely flub it like was done in the past.
About Matt Lichtenstadter
Recent Maryland graduate. I've written for many sites including World Soccer Talk, GianlucaDiMarzio.com, Testudo Times, Yahoo's Puck Daddy Blog and more. Houndstooth is still cool, at least to me. Follow me @MattsMusings1 on Twitter, e-mail me about life and potential jobs at matthewaaron9 at Yahoo dot com.