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Kevin Seifert, ESPN editor
The NFL held a conference call Saturday night with its 17 referees to address a wave of flags for offensive holding this season, in an effort to get the entire refereeing department on the same page to move from the front.
Senior vice president of officiating Al Riveron confirmed the call to ESPN analyst John Parry. Such conference calls are common during the season and Riveron addressed other topics as well. But the effort could decrease the rate of offensive flag-waving starting in Sunday afternoon games.
The problem began with what was supposed to be a narrow point of emphasis against a technique sometimes called “lobster blocking,” when an offensive lineman wraps his arms around a defender while blocking behind the defenders. games in progress. But it became something much more significant, and in the first two weeks of the season, NFL officials threw 178 flags for all types of offensive holding, a 66 percent increase from the same period in 2018.
This spike also contributed to a 16.2% increase in total penalties from Weeks 1 and 2 last season, as well as a slight decline in scoring from 21.97 offensive points per game in 2018. to 20.9 in 2019. There were 10 other offensive holding calls. during Thursday night’s match between the Tennessee Titans And Jacksonville Jaguars.
New England Patriots strategist Tom Brady even tweeted Thursday evening that “ridiculous penalties” in the first half of the Jags’ victory led him to shut it down.
During Saturday’s call, Riveron asked the referees to continue to emphasize the need for offensive linemen to immediately move their blocks inside the defender’s frame if they initiate the block outside. But on the frontside and other blocks, Riveron advised them to allow more time to get the block inside the frame before throwing a flag.
Riveron’s efforts would follow the traditional trend of emphasis points, which typically lead to an increase in calls during the preseason and early in the regular season. In some cases, coaches and players adapt as the flag rate flattens. In other cases, the NFL officials office or competition committee steps in to demand an adjustment.
