Faced with a blitz of officiating questions and queries about the effectiveness of the Rooney Rule, Colin Kaepernick’s football unemployment and the cancelation of a news conference for a Super Bowl halftime show that has drawn hefty criticism, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell scrambled on Wednesday.
Naturally, Goodell was peppered with questions, some bordering on demands, to upgrade officiating 10 days after a non-call late in the National Football Conference championship game pretty much cost the New Orleans Saints a spot in the Super Bowl.
While agreeing that game officials missed the helmet-to-helmet hit and pass interference penalty by Rams defensive back Nickell Robey-Coleman — league officiating chief Al Riveron called Saints coach Sean Payton after the game and admitted the blown call — Goodell said that the league would re-examine the officiating process.
“We will look again at instant replay,” said Goodell, who added that league executives recognize the frustration of Saints fans. “There have been a variety of proposals over the last — frankly 15 to 20 years — of should replay be expanded? It does not cover judgement calls. This was a judgement call.”
Goodell completely ruled out any use of commissioner’s powers to change the call or resume the game; a lawsuit was filed in New Orleans seeking that.
He also said that he and the competition committee would examine a potential expansion of replay to include helmet-to-helmet hits.
“We have worked very hard to bring technology in to try to make sure we can do whatever possible to address those issues,” Goodell said. “But technology is not going to solve all of these issues. The game is not officiated by robots, it’s not going to be, but we have to continue to go down that path.”
The path to top coaching positions has been a rocky one for minorities.
In a report on Wednesday, the Associated Press pointed out that on 2018 season coaching staffs, only four minorities held the stepping-stone jobs of offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, just 7.1 percent of 56 jobs.
That lack of minority coaches in the pipeline helped contribute to the NFL’s sharpest-ever one-year drop in minority head coaches, from eight to three, with Brian Flores expected to become the fourth when he moves from the Patriots to the Dolphins.
Many advocates of diversity in the league have questioned the current effectiveness of the Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview at least one minority candidate for any head coach or general manager vacancy.
Goodell defended the rule, which has been used in other industries, emphasizing that it has opened opportunities that did not exist previously.
“We don’t look at the success or failure of the Rooney Rule in one-year increments,” Goodell said. “We want to figure out how we can create a deeper pool of coaches so that they have that opportunity when the coaching opportunities arise.”
On Kaepernick, who some claim has been blackballed by the league for sparking social injustice and police brutality demonstrations during renditions of the national anthem, Goodell said: “I think if a team decides that Colin Kaepernick or any other player can help their team win, that’s what they’ll do. They want to win and they make those decisions individually in the best interest of their club.”
On the cancelation of a news conference following widespread condemnation of the choice of Maroon 5 and several artists refusing to participate as a sign of support for Kaepernick, Goodell said: “We’re extremely pleased with the diversity, quality and the excitement surrounding our entertainers. This is the biggest stage in the world, and I know people want to be part of that.”
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