The NFL Competition Committee convened once again on Tuesday to go over, among other things, the use and implementation of replay review in light of the controversial no-call in the NFC Championship Game.
If the responses from the presiding officials are any indication, no changes will be coming anytime soon.
New York Giants owner John Mara told NFL Network's Judy Battista after the committee meeting he is "skeptical" that owners would muster the necessary 24 votes to change anything about instant replay. Mara added that he does not sense any movement on judgment calls and definitely none on looking at non-calls.
"To think we are going to be in a system where calls are always going to be corrected from New York or upstairs, I don't think we're close to that," Mara told reporters.
The Giants owner said there was more conversation about changing the mechanics of officiating, i.e. where officials should be on the field, which official should be responsible for looking at what, as an alternative remedy.
Those sentiments were echoed by other members of the Competition Committee.
"Given the significance of the play, and the focus on that error late in the game, you need to have a top-down discussion again," Atlanta Falcons president and committee chairman Rich McKay said, per ESPN. "I think that's the right thing to do. When you have it, you may come up with some ideas to modify replay, add to, subtract from, whatever it may be. I think that's a healthy discussion.
"And also, I think you're going to have some people who have historically wanted to expand replay and want to use this moment to have that discussion, which I don't blame them for wanting to do. For any discussion about it, you have to go all the way through, meaning end to end, because there are so many complications to it, in the way it impacts the game, officiating, time of game, pace of game, all those things. We are going to do that."
Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones added that while there is a lot of energy in discussing changes to replay, the committee has looked at alternatives before and there is currently not enough momentum to change how replay is handled.
"We've had these conversations," Jones said, per ESPN. "And you start rehashing them, and you go, 'Oh my gosh, we've had this conversation again and again and again and again and again.'"
This week's meetings were used to discuss potential rule change suggestions that the committee will bring to owners later in the offseason, likely at the Annual League Meeting in late March. Two-thirds of the 32 owners must approve a change before it's adopted.
