{"id":1053620,"date":"2019-10-21T18:05:48","date_gmt":"2019-10-21T22:05:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?p=1053620"},"modified":"2019-10-21T18:05:50","modified_gmt":"2019-10-21T22:05:50","slug":"nfl-even-bill-belichick-has-given-up-on-pass-interference-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/nfl-even-bill-belichick-has-given-up-on-pass-interference-challenges\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL: Even Bill Belichick Has Given Up On Pass Interference Challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>When it comes to NFL coaches, there are very few men more competitive than Bill Belichick. He's won six Super Bowls as a head coach, two more as a defensive coordinator, and has been named NFL Coach of the Year on three separate occasions; on the gridiron, there's <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/5-times-bill-belichick-was-the-smartest-coach-in-the-nfl\/\">very little that he hasn't done<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But even Bill Belichick doesn't think he can win a pass interference challenge. The Patriots head coach has admitted that he simply doesn't think the risk of throwing the red flag is worth the reward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Bill Belichick's winning record<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Bill Belichick Mic&#039;d Up vs. Packers &quot;Do you have an extra sharpie?&quot; | NFL Films\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/88YQb12l0w0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Once Belichick's college football career ended, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/coaches\/BeliBi0.htm\">he immediately began coaching<\/a>. He spent one season working as a special assistant for the Baltimore Colts, before moving on to the Detroit Lions and Denver Broncos. He truly came into his own, however, with the New York Giants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In New York, Belichick worked his way up the food chain to defensive coordinator, working with a unit <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/giants-legend-lawrence-taylor-retired-25-years-ago-where-is-he-now\/\">led by Lawrence Taylor<\/a>. The Giants captured two Super Bowl titles, topping the Denver Broncos in 1986 and upsetting the Buffalo Bills in 1990. That success would help Belichick make the leap to head coaching; he would briefly lead the Cleveland Browns, before serving as an assistant coach for the Patriots and Jets. In 2000, however, he returned to New England, setting history in motion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once with the Patriots, Belichick took full control of the franchise. Once <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/tom-brady-best-quarterback-nfl-history-2\/\">Tom Brady assumed the starting quarterback role<\/a> in 2001, the rest was history. Since then, the pair have won just about everything there is to win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Even Bill Belichick can't win pass interference challenges<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Seven weeks into the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/NFL?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#NFL<\/a> season, there are only two types of pass interference challenges:<br><br>1. The ones where you throw the flag and regret it.<br><br>2. The ones where you don&#39;t throw the flag, because honestly, what&#39;s the point.<\/p>&mdash; Charles Robinson (@CharlesRobinson) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CharlesRobinson\/status\/1186032102678155279?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 20, 2019<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This season, NFL coaches are allowed to challenge pass interference calls. Belichick, however, is yet to throw his red flag and ask for a penalty review. The Patriots coach simply doesn't think the risk is worth the reward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI think it\u2019s been pretty clear and the league has come out and said, it\u00a0has to be clear and obvious,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/blog\/new-england-patriots\/post\/_\/id\/4818430\/it-was-patriots-or-nothing-for-benjamin-watson-in-2019\">Belichick explained<\/a>. \u201cWhat the definition of that is, I\u2019m not sure. But I don\u2019t think there can be much gray area, or it\u2019s not clear and obvious. I haven\u2019t studied all of them, but a lot of the ones that I\u2019ve observed or have been in our games, I can see why they were called the way they were.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a league of fine margins like the NFL, a time out can make the difference between a loss and a win. If you don't think you have a shot at winning your challenge, it's hard to justify burning a valuable asset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Does the challenge system need to change?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Saints&#039; loss to Rams is &#039;on the league office&#039; - Stephen A. | First Take\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8Z69dJaT58g?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>While the system to review an incorrectly called penalty is now in place, there's obviously an issue. If coaches aren't throwing the red flag since challenges are unwinnable, things need to change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As Belichick pointed out, the main sticking point comes in the definition of &#8220;clear and obvious.&#8221; While that seems like a reasonable standard\u2014no one wants to overturn every slightly questionable decision\u2014things don't work as smoothly in practice. In a world of judgment calls, very few things can clear that high bar. Even if the replay seems to contradict the call on the field, the wording of the rule gives referees enough wiggle room to stand by their original call. &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/tv.avclub.com\/clear-and-obvious-is-how-the-nfl-says-shut-up-1839157213\">Clear and obvious<\/a>&#8221; has become a shorthand for &#8220;we're not changing anything unless it's so egregious we have to.&#8221; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unfortunately, this situation will sound all too similar to NFL fans; it's like trying to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/sports\/wp\/2018\/03\/27\/whats-a-catch-nfl-now-knows-as-owners-unanimously-approve-new-catch-rule\/\">define what is and isn't a catch<\/a>, all over again. Ideally, the league should sort things out and clarify the rules, but that probably won't happen anytime soon. In the meantime, it's probably best if we all act like Belichick and pretend we can't challenge pass interference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has won just about everything. But even he <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":1053775,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4992,4904,9282],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.3 (Yoast SEO v22.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>NFL: Even Bill Belichick Has Given Up On Pass Interference Challenges - Sports7<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has won just about everything...except for an NFL pass interference challenge.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/nfl-even-bill-belichick-has-given-up-on-pass-interference-challenges\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NFL: Even Bill Belichick Has Given Up On Pass Interference Challenges\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has won just about everything...except for an NFL pass interference challenge.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/nfl-even-bill-belichick-has-given-up-on-pass-interference-challenges\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sports7\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-10-21T22:05:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-10-21T22:05:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Bill-Belichick-GettyImages-1180334651.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"734\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joe Kozlowski\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@JoeKozlowski_\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joe Kozlowski\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/nfl-even-bill-belichick-has-given-up-on-pass-interference-challenges\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/nfl-even-bill-belichick-has-given-up-on-pass-interference-challenges\/\",\"name\":\"NFL: Even Bill Belichick Has Given Up On Pass Interference Challenges - 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He covers the NBA and soccer for Sports7, with specialties in legacy NBA players such as Michael Jordan and Premier League club Arsenal. Off the clock, he's a Kansas City Chiefs fan and a hockey goalie. Growing up loving Shaquille O'Neal and reading everything he could about the great big men throughout NBA history \u2014 likely because he was still tall enough, at least relative to his peers, to play center \u2014 he's continued to love learning about and exploring the historical and story-based sides of the basketball archives. As for Arsenal, Joe spent a year living in London and latched onto the local support of the club. He's barely missed a match since, loving Arsene Wenger, enduring the Banter Era, and following along through rebuilds. The Premier League interest developed into a passionate following of the Champions League, Europe's big five league, and international soccer as a whole when played at the highest level. 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