The NFL is now going to allow officials to confer with Dean Blandino in the league office when reviewing instant replays. Here are Blandino’s thoughts on the change . . .
Q)Do you expect the rule change to replay to speed up the process and improve efficiency?
Dean Blandino: Yes, we expect it to speed up the process and be more efficient for us. We can communicate with the referee immediately as soon as he’s done making his announcement, we can start that conversation as to what we’re going to look at and what he is going to see. There isn’t that delay of getting over to the monitor, putting the headset on and having a 45 second discussion. We think it will be more efficient, accurate and consistent.
Q)Will your involvement be limited to replay reviews or can you discuss rules with referees at various point during the game?
Blandino: This is strictly tied to replay reviews. The referee is the only official that we can communicate with. We can’t communicate with the other six officials.
QWhat happens if there are multiple replays at the same time?
Blandino: There will be a small group; myself, Al Riveron, the senior director of officiating, will have monitors, but there will be a small group of people that will actually be speaking to referees so we can adjudicate multiple reviews that happen at the same time.
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