National Football League

Pereira: League should move replay decisions to NFL headquarters

Published Dec. 15, 2013 4:26 p.m. ET

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It's a good thing I could see Sunday, because I couldn't hear much in the Command Center here at the FOX Network Center because of some audio problems.

But a play I saw in the Philadelphia-NY Giants game got me to thinking about something that really hasn't been talked about much to this point -- the notion of taking replay and putting it into the NFL's Central Command Center in New York. And I really like the idea.

Here was the situation: Philadelphia had the ball, first-and-goal at the Minnesota 3-yard line with :32 seconds left in the third quarter. Minnesota led 27-16. Eagles quarterback Nick Foles lobbed a pass into the back of the end zone to Zach Ertz, who was being defended by Andrew Sendejo. Ertz caught the ball with one hand and as he was going to the ground, held onto the ball near the end line. The play was ruled a touchdown on the field and after a booth review, the ruling was confirmed.

The basic reason for moving replay to the NFL headquarters in New York is the idea of having more consistent decisions made in replay because you'd have a small group of supervisors making the decisions on every replay.

However, it raises the question of will there still need to be a replay official at the stadium?

There will be, because the replay official at the stadium will still be the one that decides whether to stop the game for a review on turnovers, scoring plays or inside of two minutes of each half. So there will definitely be a need for that person.

But, once the replay official does decide to stop a game, or if there is a challenge by a coach, then that's when I would send it to New York.

In my opinion, here are that two rules I'd follow:

1. Once a coach throws a challenge flag, then the decision on the challenge is then made in New York.

2. Once the replay official decides to stop the game for a review, that decision will be made in New York. But I think the decision to stop the game for a review will still have to be made by the replay official at the stadium.