NFL Week 1 - Pass Interference Review - First Impressions and Troy Vincent Interview

partners in crime. Here, my my producer, Mr Travis Hanson. Travis, what's up? What's going on? Not much? Not much? Good first impression, Travis, America is gonna love you. It's what I'm here for. America is gonna love you. And our our audio guy, our handyman extraordinaire, Mr mcgiver himself, Joe Madrid, Joe, what's up now much? Dean, how you doing? Thanks for

having me excited for the first show. See see Travis, that's how you That's just too much And exactly he's the audio guy and he's already trying to like sneak in. It's the name of the show is Good Calls with Dean Blandinos. Just remember that I know, I don't know if there remind I don't know if you remind you of that, Travis. But um, look, let's get week one. There was a ton of stuff. We were in the studio, UM Saturday for college football, yesterday for NFL, A ton

of stuff. I want to jump right into it and also stick around because we got a pretty good interview with Troy Vincent, former NFL player and now the executive vice president for Football Operations, UM with the with the NFL. So we'll we'll play some excerpts from that interview later on. But week one, UM, you know, we got the new rule past interference, right, and that's what everybody's been talking about.

And and we start yesterday, right, there was seven reviews for past interference and yeah, we saw it Thursday, Matt Lafleur through one. I think everybody agreed that that that was not a great challenge. But again, first time head coach, first challenge didn't go very well, and the and the ruling on the field stood. But seven reviews and one of the things the concerns right with replays, how many

times are we gonna stop the game? And uh, in two thousand eighteen, one point three six reviews per game just through fourteen games in week one, we've got two. Tonight there were there were one point six four reviews per games. So they're up, and I think we anticipate they're gonna be up, at least initially. But seven reviews from past inference two created um in replay one in the Buffalo Jets game. And this is I think something we all have to live with right every time now

there's a touchdown. In addition to looking at whether the receiver got his feet inbounds or did he did he control the past? Now we're gonna be looking at blocking down field? Travis? Is that something now? Is as a fan? Are you? Are you? Is that something we gotta get used to? I think you have to get used to it because this is the way it is. This is the new NFL we live in. And unfortunately you're you're gonna be looking for flags more. We're we're in the studio,

we're looking for flags on every play. We're looking is it a clean touchdown? And then we're looking, oh is there a flag? Is our flag? Now at home, you're gonna be like, okay, where else may a flag come in? That we don't see on TV that that lands outside of the picture on your TV screen, and it almost it almost takes away the joy of the moment, right because you want to you want to celebrate that touchdown. But now you're like, wait a minute, is there a flag?

Is there? You know? Is there gonna be a replay review? And what happened in the in the Jets game, there was a touchdown pass that was thrown and uh and the replay officials responsible for reviewing all all aspects of that play, all reviewable aspects, and they stopped the game and they created a foul for offensive past inference for blocking down feel more than a yard before the ball

was was touched, and it was the correct call. But again, we are now living in this world where hold up, wait a minute, we um we are going to review this, and I do want to say I think it I'd be remiss in saying that we are we are recording. We're coming from our beautiful studios in Hermosa Beach, California. And I'm reminded of that because I have a great window to uh, what is that pure avenue right there?

And the sights and sounds are unbelievable. But anyway, Jets Buffalo O p I first replay create the first past inference created by replay. But let's talk about Tampa San Francisco. That was our game. That was there was a lot of stuff in that game. And and Joe, you're shaking your head, You're you like you want to speak right now? What what? What ahead? It felt like there was a flag on every play of that game. It was every single time something good happened, there's that yellow graphic on

the screen. It was just like enough, it was well, you know, when you know, we do want to talk about offensive holding that that has been a point of emphasis in the preseason. Offensive holding calls were up significantly, and uh, you know it was it was close to six a game, which is which would be a record for any season, the most, the most the NFL has ever had in the season was just under four offensive holding calls and that's total, that's that's accepted declined offset.

And uh, and so it did feel in that in that forty niner buck game that I think there were four touchdowns brought back on penalties and and that that's a lot. There were There were just over five offensive holding penalties called UM per game in the first fourteen games, and that that is a big number. And and my concern is, look, if it's holding, it's holding. It's such a subjective call. But when you start thinking about what what makes the NFL so popular, what do people want

to see? Ones got their fantasy. I mean, Travis is all about scoring. He he wants to score in all aspects of his life. But scoring, passing yards, all of that. Offensive holding penalties are big penalties. When you the number of drives that result in points, when there's an offensive holding call during that drive, it goes down you know, first and twenty second and twenty these are these are tough to overcome and uh and so when you have that many of holding calls and and that many penalties

in general, it's tough to sustain drives. You look at scoring just through the first fourteen weeks, it wasn't down. Um we we averaged just over forty eight UH points per game in the first week. But what was significant about that though the margin of victory was was pretty big, the margin of victory was seventeen. We had a lot of blowouts. Miami Baltimore was a blowout, Tennessee Cleveland. You know, all that and we'll get into Cleveland in a second.

But seventeen is a big that's a that's a big number, and where the league really wants to be is um. You know, if you can get under ten when you talk about margin of victory, that that is a good number. So high scoring, low margin of victory, that's where you want to be. Week one were we're at high scoring, but we're at a high margin of victory. And so that that's something to be concerned about. UM. But in that game, that that Tampa San Francisco game, there were

two plays. UM and my my boy b A. Bruce Arians is the first head coach to win a past interference challenge and and b A is a kind of a trail He's a trailblazer. He's a trailblazer, UM, And look, in all seriousness, this is a guy that has been at the forefront of in terms of diversity and minority hiring. He's got he's the first head coach to have UM female assistant coaches on the staff. So this is a guy that is not afraid of change and is a

guy that is progressive. But he's also a guy that has a masterful, masterful grasp on the on the English language. If you've ever had the privilege of talking to him off the record, you know, outside of you know, with a microphone. He doesn't have a microphone in his in his face. He uh, he uses some I've never I've never met a guy that could that could drop more f bombs in more creative ways and a shorter span than well. You remember on the Amazon show when they

did that, he he had to apologize. He's unbelievable. He's unbelievable. But what I love about him is he's a guy that will He will m f you for twenty minutes on the phone, and then at the end of the conversation, you're You're back to being you know your boys. It's like, all right, talk to you, talk to you later. And we've got some good b a stories that will share

over the course of the next couple of weeks. But Richard Sherman Mike Evans, that matchup, that is a physical matchup, right, Mike Evans is a big receiver, Richard Sherman is a big defensive back, a lot of hands, hand fighting um Earlier in the game ten minutes to go incomplete pass Bruce challenges and they create a out for pastive inference and replay end of the game. Tampa's last play from scrimmage. Um, they throw it out. A lot of contact on both sides.

We were looking at it and I actually went on the air and and and the contact by Sherman at the end it look it is passive inference. What he did, right, He he basically had his arm across Evans arms. Evans couldn't get his arms up to make a play on the ball, So that is past inference. But the call on the field stood, and we were kind of thinking, Okay,

how is that possible? But you know, looking at it again and just talking to some people around the league where they've been and this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Is what they're saying is if there's contact both ways, and if there's a lot of hand fighting and you're not sure who's doing what to who, um, then they're they're gonna let that go and and and that's not

necessarily a bad thing, is it. It's not bad, But you could argue that was the same thing that happened on the on the first one, and it becomes so subjective and in in in the fourth quarter, is it more important to get a call or put a call on and it is earlier in the game or or not not as important. It's it becomes too subjective. And that's and and you make a good point because I like that standard, but we've got to be consistent, right And and we talked to coaches, and coaches understand that

officials are gonna make mistakes. They're human. The game is it happens quickly, and it's amazing how right they are, you know, looking at it one time from their perspective. But coaches get that. What they don't like is when they're inconsistent and you apply one standard in one situation, then the same situation happens again and you apply a

different standard. And that's I think that's that's the goal is to be consistent and uh and so you have that, and then the next thing I want to talk about is this ready, what am I doing? Clapping? Everyone knows that clapping. Have we created another gate? Have we created? We had spy gate, we had the flake gate, clap gate, we had I don't know, did the Miami thing, the bully gate? Did that ever catch on? I don't know.

Maybe it's but clap game, right, what is going on in obviously Kyler Murray in the preseason, it was this deal where and that's a college thing. You watched the college game and they allow it. Right. Um, it's it's whether it's a silent count, whatever it is. Clap the snap doesn't come. Um, as long as it's not something and this has been in the NFL game, it hasn't been an issue. As long as it's not quick, abrupt

designed to draw the defense, it wasn't an issue. What the league said is, Okay, if you clap, you have to get the snap immediately. And and that's where we are. It was a play yesterday in the Lins. But well, you know, is it an exception that was me on the air yesterday? We Stafford. The lines on our ore are on offense. Stafford, the play clock is running down.

Stafford is clapping like he he was clapping like he just he just witnessed Paul McCartney, Eric lapped in Andrea Butcelli all doing a one time only collaboration of like a llelujah right, Like that's how he was clapping that kind I went there. How about his boy kershot he did Matthew Stafford with Clayton Kersher. Really, I've never I've never heard that the actually sarcasm dean sarcasm. I never. You never hear that, ever that Clayton kersh from Matthew

Stafford went to the same high school in Texas. Never you never see them. Here they are and in in peewee baseball, and they both became pro athletes. Whatever, we get it back, we get it to. Okay. Bottom line is, here's the deal. So Stafford is clapping, they don't they don't call, they don't throw a flag right away, and then the umpire throws a flag. They get together, the referee, Scott Novak gets on the mic and says, there's no foul for for a false start. Now you're in Arizona, Okay.

So this thing been where the things started, and so Arizona is obviously upset, the fans are upset. Kingsbury is upset. I'm sure Kyler Murray was like, what the f um? You know, I go on the air and I'm trying to explain it, and I'm like, you know, well, maybe because the play clock was running down, they're gonna let that. They're gonna let that go. Look, we've seen that forever in the NFL. I hope the league gets this together. What where we are now is if you clap, you

gotta get the snap immediately. If you don't, it's a false start. So that's where we are. We'll see where it goes. But but that's enough. On clapgate, um, head scratching, head Scratcher, call of the Week. We're trying to come up with a name, and and we like head scratcher. What was the other one? Joe that we things that make you go? Oh, things that make you go? Which was a school who wasn't seeing Saturday Night? Saturday night,

we were in the studio. We started, Um, we had a game kickoff at nine am, right the big newon kickoff Army in Michigan. So we get there an hour early. We're there at it. Why wasn't there was? Actually but I was actually filming something for the kickoff, which was unbelievable if you haven't had a chance to. We were

all I was. I was. I was filming with Charissa Thompson, a spoof on the nineties sitcom Clarissa tells all or explains it all But anyway, so we're there for the nine o'clock kickoff and we have our our dreaded pack twelve after dark, after dark, thirty Pacific kickoff. Who's watching that game on the East Coast? Joe Cambles, They're chasing, They're chasing money. These are the people that are watching it. If you went to either school and you're you're a

big fan the degenerate gamblers. Okay, sorry, is that illowed to say that? And my mom because she's hoping that I can get on the air to explain a target. So anyway, we go into a lightning delay for two hours and forty minutes, so the game kicks off in seven Pacific. So during the lightning like we had an impromptu nineties hip hop dance music like festival. It was a fest. It was dancing, singing, karaoke and C and

C Music Factory made an appearance. Things that make you go and uh, And that's where we came up with the name. But I think we're gonna stick with head Scratcher.

I know we got off topic there, um the heads while like head Scratcher called the weakest because we can we can work out we can work an endorsement deal with maybe a hair product, and the hair product I was thinking of going after is the hair product that my my, my producer here Travis uses, Travis, you want to share with the audience, you know, the hair product that use I use a product that's commonly um used by folks that don't look like me. Uh, It's called Murray's.

I had to look it up. But Travis, so you use it's a palm aid and and I don't I don't know. I don't even really know what I should say about this. But Michael Strahan came in and we told him that I use that, and he said, what the after you use that product for? So we should probably explain how Travis looks. So I just saying it's Travis. Travis is not your your average Murray's user. So Travis is from Wyoming, Travis grew up kind of farm country. Um,

Travis is how do I put this? Travis is rollerblade to work white. I don't blades. For the record, I don't that's what Travis is. And so he's not your typical Murray's user. But I use seventy son block and I go to the beach. Yeah, exactly, Travis, I don't even know such a Travis gets a Travis gets a Tannent Tanna Trader Joe's and like the produce aisle. But I don't know why, I don't know what what That doesn't make sense anyway. Um, so I think we need

to go after Murray's. So Murray's, if anybody a Murray's is listening, we will go. We'll call it the head Scratchers, call the week brought to you by Murray's palm aide um. But anyway, Murray's won't leave your head scratch and they'll leave your hair perfect all day. That's just happy. We already were writing. Like literally the people at Murray's are

scrambling right now, like we have to trademark that. Okay, So Rams, Panthers and we were all So it's a play where the past the Rams have the ball, the passers ruled incomplete on the field, the ball comes loose, the Panthers jump on it. It's outside two minutes. So it's a coach's challenge situation. The fishers on the field rule incomplete. Coach Ron Rivera, the Panthers coach challenges that it was a catch and he fumbled with a clear recovery. Um,

I go on the air and explain that. Look, here's the process of the catch. Uh. I know, cowboy fans don't think I know what it catches, but I do. And uh, look catches control body part down in time. You gotta have it long enough. I didn't think he had it long enough. I thought he got hit immediately. I didn't think he performed a football move. He's going to the ground, the ball came loose. I thought it

was a good call on the field. Referee Shawn Hockeyley comes on the mic, and what did he say, Travis? What was the explanation. I don't remember exactly what he said, but he just he talked far too much. He could have just said the call in the field stands incomplete. That's what he should have said. No, he said it was a catch and he was down by contact. Now, okay, so what Shawn said. Now, Sean is an excellent referee, and Shawan is going to be one of the one

of the better NFL referees for a long time. And obviously you know the name hockey Le. He went a little hockey, he went a little hockeyly. He's Ed hockey Lee's son, Ed Hockeyley, is was one of the best

referees of all time. And I know Ed very well, Um and I have a lot of respect for Ed, but Ed could could get a little verbose on the microphone, and and so Sean and I don't know if it was a homage to his dad or whatever, he went a little too far during the during the the announcement, what he said was he said, it is a catch, but since we couldn't determine whether the receiver's knee was down with control of the ball, um, the call on the field stands it is an incomplete pass. So so

we kind of all scratched our heads. You know, Travis is very well quaffed Murray Um Murray had But so in essence, what happened is he really should have just said incomplete ruling on the field stands incomplete. But again it was one of those deals where because of the new catch rule, and I like the new catch rule in certain instances, but we have, in my opinion, we have we have overcomplicated this and I think the old rule was a more simple rule. I think people understood it.

They just didn't want to understand it when it went against their team. But anyway, that's I'll get off the soapbox. There, but it was the head scratcher um call of the week because that sounds like it was a catch, but it's not a catch. Well, yeah it was a catch, but it was incomplete and and you know and again and I and I get it. And maybe you know because there were things like my dad used to say. When my dad used to get frustrated, he would he would he had this phrase that he would say, he

would go your sister's ass. Right. We didn't know what that was, we didn't know what it meant, but he would say it whenever he got frustrated. So now when I get frustrated, I say, and my sons are gonna say it. So you know, Sean comes from the hockey league tree, and he got you know, he got stuck in that you know, your sister's ass triangle. Basically, I always thought Ed just did it because he wanted to show up his guns for as long as he could.

That just shows how level headed you are, because in ten years of friendship, I've never heard that. It's more I say it to myself. I say in the car, I am very level headed. I don't I don't get too excited about too many things we have heard about your road rage. I've never been in the car with you and you've had road rage, but you have the East Coast road rage. Is what you say. It's the people out here. I don't whatever. Anyway, Um, Cincinnati Seattle.

End of the game. You guys were you guys were sweating it out. It was so good. We're doing a we're doing a suicide pool, survivor pool. Sorry, survivor pool. And um, you guys had Seattle in the survivor pool. I had, I was, I was skating easy. I took the Eagles. It was no problem. Eagles. They were down seventeen nothing. I was already done, but they came back. You guys had Seattle had to sweat it out. Great.

I mean, Cincinnati new head coach. You know, not a lot of people thinking, you know, I think right, I think the most people picked Seattle. And in our pool. I mean this is that that Sean McVeigh. If you know Sean McVeigh, you shake. If you're shaking his hand in the league and you've worked for him, you're gonna get an offense that you're gonna get a job as an offensive coach. And and Dalton had his best passing day of his career, he had the most yards and

he had a great day. But so the end of the game, Dalton gets it there, down by one, they have the ball, Dalton gets hit from behind, Um the ball comes loose. There's some confusion initially as to what they ruled on the field, but they ruled fumble recovered by the Seahawks. Game over, they go to review. We looked at it and it's a pass. The empty hand. The hand comes forward with the empty hand would be

a fumble. Um hand comes forward with control. Hand coming forward with control of the football constitutes a forward pass until he starts to bring the ball back to his body. So the hand comes forward with control, the ball is out. Uh. Jeans Terator, who who is on CBS as a rules analyst, said as much that it was a pass. He thought it was gonna be overturned and uh. And they come out and they announced the ruling on the field has

been confirmed. And so we were all, well, the graphic initially set incomplete, and then they came back out of that and the saying it was yeah, and it's so we were all kind of shocked at you know, it would be a stretch to go stands on that and to say confirmed, you're saying no, it's indisputable, it's clear and obvious that it was a past which it clearly wasn't. Now I've since learned that, Um, the the decision was actually stands and and the the announcement was incorrect. But

even a stands you know that that's a play. Look is since then I'm gonna win the game because you know, did they lose the game because of that play? No? They would they have had a chance one more snap. Yes, UM, chances are it's not. It doesn't make the difference, but it's just one of those plays where it does illustrate the the subjectivity in replay. Replay was initially put in to correct the obvious are in a significant situation? That's that was the tagline in And there were people at

that time UM around the league. And I give Mike Brown UM from the Cincinnati Bengals credit because Mike Brown, who's the owner of the Bengals, UM was against replay then because of the potential of where it could go to. And he's still against replay and he's stuck to his principles because he was the only owner the Bengals were the only team that voted against the past inference review um proposal and UH and so. But there were a

lot around the league at that time that we're concerned about. Okay, we're putting the system in to fix the obvious error in the significant situation with objective facts, the ball touching the ground, the foot touching the sideline. Now we are not in that world. We are not just fixing obvious errors in significant situations, and we are no longer dealing with just objective fact. We're dealing with subjectivity. You were

in the league office. What was your position then? Yeah, Um, my position was, you know, I was obviously you know, I felt that we needed replay. I mean, you look at the season and there were calls that were made that that impacted not only games, but playoffs and livelihoods. You have the mini test of averdie play, which was the Jets and Seahawks fourth and fourth and goal. Uh, Jets are down by five test of averdie. Run up the middle, he's clearly down short of the goal line.

The officials will touchdown. Seahawks lose the game. They don't make the playoffs by one game. Dennis Erickson and his staff lose their jobs. So so I think that was the tipping point and where we said we need we need a vehicle to be able to fix that. And but that's the thing about that's the standard, that's that's where we are. That's the poster child that play. And think about the calls just on Saturday and Sunday that are being reviewed, which about seven yard passes in the

first quarter. Right, we're talking about line the game plays on second nd right blocking down field. So so we are officiating via replay now? And is that the world we want to live in? You know? Is it? I'm asking you guys? And is that what people want to see? I don't think so, I don't. I don't think yeah, And and what is the saturation point? When when do we reach as a as a as a a fan base, as a league, as the clubs. When do we reach the point where we say enough is enough with replay?

Look replay like like Sammy Sosa, baseball is very good to him. Replay has been very good to me. But there's a point where we have to say, the rules are written for on field officials to make calls in real time and we can't officiate via replay. The significant plays. You want to see them right? Do you want to see them get them right? And if that's what replay, then then we're good with it. But the other stuff, the subjective calls, I don't like that. I agree because

I mean, when does it end? When is it every there's a there's an official in the booth looking at every single play. Oh, there was a guy two yards downfield. Here's where we're going. We are going to we are going to a video official sky judge whatever. And and and I talked to Troy about that in the interview Troy Vincent, We're gonna We're gonna talk to um play excerpts from that interview, Executive vice president of Football Operations

for the NFL, and we talked about that concept. That is where the league is going eventually because the technology has gotten so good and the fan at home or in the sports bar or on their phone can see things that the human I can't see on the field. And we are going to go to a video official sky judge concept. And we are gonna be sitting there and we're gonna be waiting with bated breath after every play. And I'm exaggerating to some extent, but just to make

the point is that where we want to be. Because momentum in football is real, it's real. And we had plays yesterday, we had placed Saturday where teams are moving. You look at Arizona and the Lions weren't. Overtime, teams are moving momentum, you know, big game. It was the Lions. It was a catch. Remember the Lions had had gone down by three and overtime there was a close catch um in the middle of the field. It looked like it was good. The Lions have to you know, have

to run down the field. They've got the defense on their heels and uh and replace stops it to look at it. That's real. That's that That changes momentum, that changes the flow. And and I think that's what we have to be just And yeah, I thought it was a catch and and I look, I get it because you can't confirm it a d percent. You let a play go and then and then the network comes back with a shot and shows the ball on the ground. That's the worst results. So it's just the nature of

the system and that's and that's part of it. And and again where do we draw the line? Last thing I do want to touch on from an NFL perspective, is um the the ejections yesterday we had we had three ejections, um Um. I know one for sure came

from New York. And and the new rule this year. Uh, in terms of the folks in New York, the designated personnel in the league office can get involved if flagonstorone on the field for a football or non football act and and the officials on the field penalize it, and uh, but they're not going to eject. Then New York can look at it and they can eject. So um this year they added the football part of that. And so

I hit on a receiver that type of thing. So Greg Robinson from the Browns, and I do want to talk about the Browns, and you guys gotta back me up on this. I was not on the Browns hype band wagon, okay, And and I will repeat right now, the Browns will not win that division. Okay. Everybody's sleeping on Pittsburgh and Baltimore. Obviously, Pittsburgh took their lumps last night against New England. Baltimore looks legit. I know, Miami, not a lot of people are expecting things out of

Miami this year. But I was not a Brown's hype bandwagon. So after all this height to lose at home like that smashed, that was a tough loss, right, I mean? Is that it is that all no one's gonna give me any credit for. I get it's one game. You did call that you you said Brown's third in the division. You also, however, said yeah, I don't know if my other, my other prediction is gonna be I said, the Giants

will win more games in the Browns. If you're gonna take credit for the one you have, yeah, I don't think that's gonna happen. Look, I think the Browns are gonna be. We we were, we were rooting for the Browns last year. I just think there's so much hype, and there's so much when you bring a team like that together, a very talented team, a new head coach, you don't know how all those pieces are gonna fit. You really don't. And uh and there's a lot of

dynamics there. So again they've got they've got their work cut out for them. I'm not, like I said, I'm not anti Brown, but I just it's it's the hype was what was getting to me and then but did have that best jewelry on? What was was that dollar watch? Who wears a three allar watch on the field? Are

you concerned that it's gonna get like nicked up? If if I'm a defender on that, I'm going like I'm going at him like a keep to lead when after Michael Crabtree, I'm trying to snag that thing every chance I can. I just what is the is he getting? What is he doing? Jo's getting like a lot of little side endorsement deal the league has. The league has has strict policies on that in terms of on field and what you can what you can you can wear, and things like that. So I'm sure that will be addressed,

but it was. It's all publicity stuff and it makes them unlikable to the average person because they can't relate. Some that's more than a house in most places where I grew up, that's three houses where you grew up, old cheez, where you grew up, you could buy the whole town. Town is not buying towns and wyoming guys. All right, but let's get let's get back to the rules of the ejections. Yeah, so so Greg Robinson was ejected and if you watch the play, it is he

it's actually a pretty nice up kick. You know, I think in two there in m m A. You know, had that been, had that been? We watched we actually watched the We watched the Kobe poor A fight in the studio as well Saturday. Um had been used in that fight. That's actually a pretty good legal he's on his feet, totally legal, but in the NFL that is not legal. And uh, and so Mr Robinson was ejected

from the game. The original announcement from the referee was unnecessary roughness and then they did eject him and uh. And then we had two other ejections we had We had Kwan Alexander for a hit on Jamis Winston. Winston went into a slide, Alexander hit him in the head neck area. And then we had Miles jack from Jackson with a kind of a punch open hand shot was ejected. So something just to be mindful of three ejections typically don't see maybe if if there's if there's ten to

fifteen ejections a season, and that's a lot. So obviously to have three in one week is is significant and the theory and in football is Look, in baseball, you get ejected, there's a hundred and sixty two games, and basketball there's there's eighty two games, whatever it is. In football there's sixteen games. So you're losing a significant amount of playing time with an ejection. And so we've always been for for many years, we've always been hesitant to

eject players unless it's absolutely warranted. But I think look, the league is is saying health and safety is important, especially when you look at the the jack thing, throwing a punch, the the up kick, those have always been ejections. When you look at the Alexander hit five years ago, that was not an ejection. Okay, it was a penalty,

but that was not an ejection. Where we are today with health and say t um that that you're gonna miss playing time and you're gonna get fined and and you're potentially gonna get suspended, And I think that's that's that's the sea change that that we've we've seen over

the last couple of years. Explain more how New York gets involved with the The officials on the field will make the call, they'll get together, There'll be a covering official that will go to the referee if the referee was not the one that made the call and uh, and we'll say, look, I've got I've got seventy three kicking kicking the defensive player, it's unnecessary roughness. And then they'll have a discussion is it enough to eject him? They may make that decision on the field. New York

is listening in. All of the officials have a wireless communications system. They have an earpiece, they have a microphone. New York can communicate with several members of the crew and so whether it's our River n or Russell, York will get on the headset and communicate directly with the referee and say, we're looking at the video this this is a play where we we deem this enough to eject the play, and they'll communicate that to the referee.

The referee will then make a second announcement um if he has already made one, and the player will will be thrown out of the game. That's great insight, thanks Travis. That's that's that's the type of insight you're gonna get on Goods with I'm trying to do the tagline. That's the kind of insight you're gonna get on good calls with Dean Blandino. Can you maybe play a little the

music there, Joe maybe? Okay, all right, back to the show, you know, and there was a ton of NFL stuff, but I do want to touch on one quick play from college. And trust me, we're gonna talk a lot of college football on this podcast. Going forward, Army Michigan. That was our big game on Fox and uh and Army played him tough and going to overtime. But there was a player earlier in the game that went against Michigan and where we came up with the head scratch

head scratcher. Yeah, and and so it was Army. You know, they run the option. They run an option with the pitch. It's a backward pass, Michigan picks it up, the ball hits the ground, Michigan picks it up, and they go in for an apparent score. And the officials came back and ruled that the defender after he recovered it, he was down and and so um and we looked at it and unfortunately he wasn't down when when his knee was on the ground, he didn't have possession of the football.

Then he got up picked it up and he really should have been a touchdown from Michigan, but unfortunately, the officials killed the play. They ruled him down and there's nothing replay can do in that situation. So and and the theory is is the officials have killed the play. They're blowing whistles. So it's impossible to say where would that Michigan defender have have advanced too, players stopped they hear the whistle. Would he have gotten five yards downfield?

Would he have gotten ten yards? Would he have gotten into the end zone? You can't, You don't know. So the theory is, look, if they blow it dead on the field, you can't give an advance and replay and and that's just one of those deals. So there's nothing replay can do. And the officials are taught if there is a question, you don't want to officiate to replay. You want to call what you see and don't think

about replay. But if there's a doubt in your mind, let the play go because replay can always come back. And I think that is where, um, you know, you you kind of wish that's what the officials had done in that which that's what they did in the Bengals in Seahawks game, yesterday we were wondering why didn't they

stop it? And And they gotta blow the whistle of the clock is still running, correct and that and again, if there if there's some uncertainty, you you you make it a fumble or you let the defender advance it because replay can always come back. And I think that's you know, that's part of the just the nuance when it comes to replay and officiating on the field. And and so that was our that was our head scratcher um of the week. In Army pulled that win off, that would

have been a major call. We'd have been talking about car Ball would would probably and I know coach Hardball and and he would probably be still he might be camped out at the Big Ten office if that was the case, if they had won that game. But let's uh, and you know, hey, talking about officials and and this isn't a show about Look, the officials are really good at the professional level. At the college level, they're really good. But imagine they are rated on every game. They're they're

rated on every call of every game, every play. Imagine in your everyday life that at the end of your work day, your your superior whoever that is basically handed you a sheet and it was your rating for the day, and it was everything you did good, everything you did bad, You spent twenty minutes too long at the water cooler, you know, you you whatever. This is what officials go through, all right. They get a report every play, every game that is cumulative throughout the season and UH, and that

leads to their postseason assignments or lack of assignment. It also leads to them whether they're retained UM the following year. So so they're under more scrutiny than than most professions. And UH. And obviously the scrutiny just from the meat and the fans and the coaches, but from their own UM superiors and the people that that managed them. And it's it's a difficult, difficult profession. And but speaking of ratings, how how did you get here? Travis? Did you? Did you?

Did you drive? You take your civic? Civic three thousand strong? Still civic? There you go, Honda, Hey, we're looking for sponsors. But um, so you didn't take an uber didn't take We had this discussion in the in the studio and and so we talked a little bit about it, and you know, and on this show, we're gonna talk about rules in other areas of the sports, and so we talked about Uber and it got on like who had the highest Uber rating? And sadly, unfortunately Joe, and have

you taken the Uber since Saturday? I have not? Okay, all right, So sadly Joe has the highest rating at four point eight seven. I'm at four point eight five. Travises at four point eight four. And we started to start talking about Uber drivers and ratings and things like that, and Joe has some very unique takes on you. What

are the rules? And I'm surprised because this is a guy that got banned from Uber and and the other The other rule is, though you have to have a minimum of So we are we are gonna we're gonna have an ongoing wager at the end of this season, the football season, who has the highest Uber rating. But you have to have a minimum of twenty five rides. It should be noted that Dean only rides Uber black, and so my four eight five should should count higher

than your four eight seven. Completely disagree with why you're spending more money, They're more likely to want to rate you. Hire No, it's a higher standard. No, no, no, no, the drivers don't hired standard. They want they they're expecting. I'm expecting a a a better experience and and higher quality They're experience there, expecting a better quality of customer. What do you? What do you think about? That's all I'm saying, Travis is like time was like I grew

up Uber what I don't know. We used to ride horses everywhere. I took an Uber one time and the guy was like, hey, I was a little hesitant in picking you up, and you seem like a pretty cool guys with with my wife and and three friends. And he's like he's trying a pretty cool guy. And he's like, you seem like a pretty cool guy. I just didn't want to pick you up because you had a zero rating on Uber. I did you have a zero rating?

I was, I didn't even know you get raided. I was like, you get raided to take a car like, I didn't know that. I didn't know that, so you weren't rating them and they were like, screw that. I guess it must have been and the guys like you seem cool, but you have such a low rating. I was scared to pick you up. Quickly Uber rules you rate every time. I think it's important and I think this is something and tipping as well. Um, it shouldn't

just be a standard. I think we have a I think we have a responsibility as consumers to rate according to performance, because if you give everybody a five, joke, you give five because you want people to give you five so you can have the highest ranging do they see for the next rider? You give him a five and he's and he's crap. The next rider is going to get have a crappy experience because you just want to hire rating and you want everybody to like I'm not.

This is my way. You want everybody to like. I just want to give everyone exactly. Everybody gets a five in Joe's world, everybody particulation. I'll tell you how you get a better him according to how they do. You give him a five dollar spot after the after the ride, and then you get to cash, and then they'll tip you a five. And I tip. I do tip. You don't even tip on they don't you don't tip. I tip all the time. You tip everywhere. I tip everywhere

the world. I will say, Dean Blending knows a very good tipper. Thank you. But and I got important but life tips with landing. That's that'll be say they don't know if you so that doesn't that doesn't have an impact. I think the reason that my rating is the highest is because I'm I'm personal and I'm social exactly and you just kidding everybody. But it's one it's a one time. It's a one off deal. So you're enjoyable for one ride, have that guy pick you up seventeen times, like, oh

this guy again, I'm giving him a two. I've never had the same Uber driver twice exactly exactly, but that's what I'm saying. You always get the new person, so you're the job Madrid experience. It's great the first time, it's great. It's like going to go to Disneyland once, like all this is amazing. Go there five times a week you're like, uh, the four show it all right? But Uber ratings that those are the rules on Umber ratings. Um, all right, next up, I wanna I want to play

our interview. I was really excited. I worked with Troy Vincent at the NFL for a long time. Former player, UM, former college great at Wisconsin, former NFL player, Pro Bowl player, and uh, former president of the NFL Players Association, a lot of player in his title, and he's now the executive vice president for football Operations for the National Football League. And uh and so let's uh, let's hear from Troy,

and let's play a little bit from that interview. Okay, now we are joined by Troy Vincent, executive vice president of football Operations for the NFL, and really excited to have him. Troy, Thanks, thanks for joining us. How are you doing. I'm doing great, Ready to kick this thing off. Got a handful of place today and great day, great day yesterday. Do you know I was in Columbus watch the buck Eyes pound Cincinnati Bearcat in my Badgers they

just demolished. I'm not even sure who they played yesterday. We just it doesn't really doesn't matter. We just was so dominant. Well, yes, we kick off today hundred seasons, so I know everybody's excited about that. But before we get into that, yeah, let's talk a little bit about college football. So, uh, you know, we get we get Wisconsin. You were you were a star there. They're looking pretty good. I think it was sixty years you're actually acknowledging that

I'm acknowledging that. You know, I'm acknowledging that you're a pretty decent player in college. Uh. You know, I was in I was at Madison UM over the summer for for a wedding. And you know, you've got a big picture of yourself over there by the stadium, so they like you a little bit over there. So I'll give you a little credit for that. This is a special

day if you're acknowledging that. But thank you. I will, I will, but Ohio States, So you know, I know you've got you've got two You've got two sons playing college football. Um, so is that what you were doing in? Uh? In Columbus. Yes, Our middle boy, Tehran, and a sophomore there, and he's a defensive tackle. So wife and I we alternate. One goes to Columbus and Troy Troy Jr. He's in graduate school down of towns and they were home yesterday

playing North Carolina Central. So we each week and yesterday was my turn to be in Columbus. Okay, good, Yeah, I want. I wanna talk a little bit about that later, but let's let's get into it a little before we get into the rules changes. And I definitely want to talk about past inference, but I have to ask, you know, two biggest stories of the offseason. I just want to get your you know, get your take on it. Obviously you've got Andrew Luck and you got Antonio Brown. I

want to start with Antonio. You know, this is a player, talented player. Um, we saw what happened with with the Steelers, gets to the Raiders, doesn't I mean, doesn't play a snap of meaningful football. And and so from your perspective and from the league's perspective, you know, what what is going on in terms of here's a player that it's almost as if he's kind of making his way off the team that that you know, wanted to get real lease from the Raiders, gets his release, Now he signs

with the Patriots. You know, are you concerned about this whole situation? You know what what's your take on a v and and and the future you know for him, and you know, any any impact that this has you know on the league. Well, it was isolated to the team. Let's start with with that. And it's been a circus. It's something that you'd rather talk you know, it's like we're going into the hundred seasons coach Grood and Mike Mayott. You know, they're trying to get the franchise turned around.

They identify which we all know as a dynamic player, and then there's just a series of these something's going on every day and you're almost tired of talking about it. It's been a circus. It's one where we really have to think about where we are, where does actually production equal power? People do what we allow them to do, and at some point, and maybe that'll change now that he's in New England, to compromise the tolerance level what we accept. It's Uh, it's very disturbing. I think I

really believe. I'm not speaking from a league standpoint, is my personal view. It's embarrassing. It's embarrassing to the sport, the antics that we continue, and from a leadership standpoint, find leadership said enough is enough and they moved on. Well about it's about God. Everyone wants to go back

to playing football. The teammates are looking for who's gonna be ready, who's gonna line up, who's gonna be healthy, ready to play, and for for his teammates to have to talk about where he is and where he isn't During the season I mean during a weekend and week out, day in and day out, that's not why the guys played the game. I mean, so I hope this comes to an end, so we could just focus and report on the game and not some of the things that

we saw with well what continues to keep happening. So do you feel like you know, as a league and sometimes we we we tend to enable some of these some of these guys when they do produce, you know, is that a problem? Is that something you saw during your playing days? And what can we do? What can we do? I think it's important that we got it's important. This is not league issues. These issues are isolated to the club and leadership at the club, whether that's your

from owner, general manager, head coach. This is a locker room, head coach, general manager, and player accountability. So this is not a not a league issue. It's how are you gonna run your house? What are you going to accept? What would you tolerate? And there we've this scene, this play out and it's just not good for football. Not good when you try to rate, you're trying to look and set examples for young men and women across the country.

This is something that. You know, you hope that eventually a b gets his stuff together, he could focus in on football and we could report on on the game and things that are happening around the game. Okay, let's shift gears a little bit now. Obviously you've got a guy and Andrew Luck that is is one of the one of the faces of the league and and retiring in his prime due to some of the injuries that he's had. We've seen other players retire in their prime.

You know Rob Gronkowski making comments about after the Super Bowl he was in tears because of the pain he was in. You know what what from a from a league perspective, You know, you and I have worked closely together in the past terms of health and safety, and then that is always the top priority. You know, are are you concerned about some of these players walking away you know, really before there before their time? And you know, what can the league do to ensure the health and

safety of these players? Because you know, we know that there's you know, for some players, it is a short window. But when you see a guy like like Gronk or Andrew walk away so young, um, does that concern you? Doesn't concern me? And actually it's the position that every player wants to be in, to make the choice to walk away from the game on your terms. I was

happy for Andrew. I was happy for Rob and all those other players who have decided, from Jim Brown to Barry Sanders, everybody, every every athlete's body has an expiration date. This game typically tells you, by way of you being cut, being bound Darron, that it's time for you to that you are transitioning away from the game. Very seldomly does the player have the choice or the option to say I'm done. So I was happy for him, Drew, and it's it's it's there was the player's option, and he

decided that he's had enough. And it's not where we as fans and teammates and on and so over, we all have the an opinion about it. But he made an individual decision which he felt like was best for him, and typically the player at the time, the players not making that choice for himself. Okay, let's let's talk about Let's go back and from your perspective, Saints Rams, you know we're moving into the season, and but I do want to go back and talk about that play from

last year. The NFC championship game, and so Saints Rams, you know, where were you when it happened in in terms of the miss past defrench call? And then how quickly after that game did did you start thinking about, you know, potential rules changes, how are we going to address this, how are we going to prevent this from happening going forward? And just walk us through that that process,

that competition committee process a little bit. So that was the game, the championship game that I was in attendance. So I was actually at this at the at a Mercedes events at the Superdome, so I was there. I watched it play out, and again it was man miscall. You didn't think it was going to go to the level of the magnitude of which it was. It was clear,

it was obvious that was a miscall. And then one thing that the game ended, one thing transpired after another headed back to the train, I mean to the airport. It just became this, It just got out of control. I was never never thought, you know, that we would look at it. You think about, how do you make that correction? It was a human error. What are some safeguards that we can put in from an overall league

standpoint to minimize things of that nature. But typically we don't move in a direction where one single play really alters the way you want to implement new rules, and it did in this particular case. It was I felt like just based off of the magnitude of the play and what has happened, we've seen those plays through through the duration and the history of our game. We analyzed, we looked at data, and the data said, Okay, this is this particular foul path in appearance has the most impact.

How do we put some safeguards in it? And that's how we came up with playing route proposal six I think of six CE and we just discussed it, watch video and now we're gonna see so very comfortable about the implementation, just working with our head coaches, working with the officials. Through the off season, we had you know, Thursday night games, so we saw come in to play there. And now we're in the true week one where we

have multiple games going on at one time. We'll see multiple games inside of two minutes and we'll see how that plays out. But that is that's kind of how it took place, the progression of it, and but we feel very very comfortable about where we are about the standard of that call, about that process of how that a play out UM doesn't change the replay system. So that's that's just important, I think for fans and everyone to know that the system, there's no changing the replay system.

You just with this particular foul type there is a higher standard. So, you know, I talked a lot of a lot of coaches around the league, and at the time I'm during during the league meeting, you know, they they had discussed the concept of and I know you and I have talked about it a little bit, the sky judge, right, the video official that can fix any any egregious mistake, and a lot of the coaches were

leaning in that direction. And you know, the coaches got together had their own meeting and and from what I know is that during that meeting they had discussed that concept and they were in favor of that UM. But then competition committee got together and ended up with past deference. How how close was that ever a realistic possibility UM

for this season? It was, and it was talked about at length at the combine and the concept of the sky judge really it's that's the replay official inside the stadium. So when we got into March meeting. You know, coach reading, coach hardball really took the lead in this particular area between between the two and let's say, okay, let's rather than try where does this sky judge come from? But that was the term that was used, what does this sky judge? Who is here? She? Are they in the pipeline?

And then really think about should we just be looking at increasing possibly the responsibilities of the replay of Fisher that's already in the stadium. That's so that was the direction that we were headed. Continue to kept kept watching video at that time in March. As you well know, playing route proposals are already in So what your you may do is we're amending a club proposal or one

of the competition committee proposals, and then it will start out. Hey, the competition committee at just at the juncture they felt comfortable with what the data and where we were things that we can control in New York that we had a better better handle on that playing route proposal that was submitted. That will be the one the one year proposed that we're saying this season was a good place to start. I would say that that sky judge concept we'll see if that has life at the end of

the season. As as we see playing with proposal stich play out this season. Do you do you worry at all about you know, we've talked about this when we brought replay back in, but that that creep concept of we add we had one thing one year and now we're gonna add another thing. So do you worry at

some point about a call this season? Let's say it's rough in the past er or it's a face mask and it's a big time call similar to that play in the NFC Championship game, and now everyone saying, well, we got to review that and then and adding that and doing that every year. Is that Does that concern you? Absolutely? It gets into you start here, which is past in apearance. Are you opening up the Pandora's box? Is this wee you want the sport and this is where you really

want replay to go. When pace of play for all professional sports leagues is critical, and we talk about this team when we were working side by side by one another, you know, you're trying to take a you know, we're trying to eliminate the extra We would say that what's that wasted time that we need to be eliminating, not not snap the snap. And when you start adding on thousand to the system, man, we're the excessive stoppages. Think about the game and last year we came in at

three or four game time. You start adding in additional fouls into what a coach can challenge into that replay system, that's a slippery slope. And I'm not sure if the coaches, that's those unintended consequences of coaches. Definitely the fans. It's not going to sit around and be watching three and a half four our games. That's not where we want the sport. Thanks again to Troy for spending some time with us and sharing his thoughts on some you know,

pretty interesting topics around the league. And that's it. That's it for episode one. Thanks for joining us, and uh good Calls with Dean Blandino is a production of I Heart Radio. Follow me on Twitter at Dean Blandino for links and details about the show, and be sure to rate us on the I heart Radio app and tell your friends about us. For more podcasts for my art radio, visit the heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.