Updates

“I don’t know if we can review everything,” the NFL’s vice president of officiating, Dean Blandino told the NFL Network, following the playoffs’ wild card round.

“I think there are judgment calls that happen during a game, and we have to let the officials officiate the game, and we can’t do it from the replay booth,” he said.

His remarks came after a late call in the Jan. 4 Dallas-Detroit NFC wild card game, in which the referee picked up the flag on a defensive pass interference call against the Cowboys after a consultation among the officials. Blandino said that the pass interference penalty was a judgment call, but that defensive holding should have been called on the play.

“But I am in favor of getting another look on game-changing calls,” he continued. “And if that means a coach challenging a ruling if he has a timeout remaining to get a play right, I think that’s worth discussing. Getting the play right should be the ultimate goal.”

During his weekly “Official Review” segment on “NFL Total Access,” Blandino also discussed whether Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant should have been penalized for running onto the field without a helmet to argue against the pass interference call, and whether the NFL should assign officials to post-season games by crew instead of individually. Currently, officials are assigned to the postseason based on their individual performance during the regular season.

Each week, NFL Vice President of Officiating Dean Blandino provides detailed explanations of calls from the previous week’s games. Click here to see previous weeks of “Official Review.”