At the annual league meeting, the NFL announced that pass interference penalties will now be subject to review for the 2019 season. The new rule will also allow coaches to throw the challenge flag on calls and non-calls if they feel like the ruling on the field isn’t correct. Also, the review booth will handle the reviews on interference plays within the final two minutes of each half.
3 ways NFL teams can use pass interference replay to their advantage
Pass interferences will be up for review this season, which means some crafty teams can exploit it.
Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports
Like any rule, some teams will figure out a way to use this to their advantage.
We won’t be able to see the rule in real time until the preseason kicks off in August, but here are a few ways that teams can get creative with the rule during the upcoming season.
Throw a Hail Mary as soon as you get past the two-minute warning
Now that pass interference will be reviewed by the officials in New York after the two-minute warning, there’s room for NFL teams to get aggressive.
Coaches won’t have to use their challenges on pass interference plays within two minutes of halftime or the end of a game, so why not just launch a Hail Mary down the field? Especially once teams get into a first-and-10 situation where they still have three more downs to work with if the Hail Mary doesn’t work.
Super Bowl 52 is one example of when this rule could have come into play. On the last play of the game, the Patriots threw a Hail Mary to Rob Gronkowski and Chris Hogan was leveled by an Eagles cornerback — this is a play that could have been reviewed under the current rules.
Under the new system, the Patriots would be able to try this on the first play after the two-minute warning to try and initiate a review. If they can get the official to throw a flag, they’re basically getting free yards on the play.
At the very least in this situation, you’re giving yourself a chance to review whether or not a play should be a penalty. If the play does in fact become a penalty, then you’re looking at what would likely amount to a massive gain in penalty yards — or at least enough yards to end up in scoring opportunity.
Remember, defensive pass interference is a spot foul. That means the offense will automatically get the ball wherever the foul occurred. Let’s say your team has a first down on its own 30-yard line coming out of the two-minute warning. Why not try for a 70-yard spot foul just to see what happens? Particularly if you have a quarterback that can really sling it.
We won’t know how often the officials will overturn these plays yet, but it’s at least worth a shot.
Save your challenges going into the two-minute warning and throw two deep passes
The new rule doesn’t change the amount of challenges that coaches are given for each game. Each coach will receive two challenges with the possibility of gaining a third if they successfully use their first two challenge flags.
That should give coaches a chance to be a little flexible heading into two-minute warning, especially in instances when they’re down by a score or two late in the game. A team could try to attempt two throws worth challenging for pass interference before the two-minute warning, when the coach still has time to use a challenge flag.
There was a play in Super Bowl 53 where the Rams would have been able to throw the challenge flag under the new rules. In fact, a late pass deflection by Stephon Gilmore was an example that the NFL used as a play that would have been reviewed and called pass interference:
The Rams weren’t trying to grab a penalty on the play, but this could be a strategy that teams use moving forward.
Of course, the danger is becoming a bit predictable in this scenario when chasing the big penalty. A smart defense will just line up deeper and deeper to cut off the chance of a pass interference foul when a team was forced into this late-game desperation mode.
Come out the gate swinging with a deep pass
One way to take advantage of the new rule is to throw a bomb as soon as the game gets going. It’s risky because a team will be relying on its own challenges instead of a booth review in the case of a shaky no-call, but that might be worth the gamble to come out of the gates guns blazing.
If a team were able to hit on one of these monster penalties to start a game, they’d automatically be in scoring position. The downside is losing a challenge flag that you might need later on. But field-flipping plays are rare enough that some teams might decide to give it a shot.
We won’t know how teams, or officials, will react to the new rule until the season starts. However, it does add a new wrinkle of strategy to the game, which is exciting.
Until the Patriots are the first team to take advantage of it. Then, we riot.
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