Tagliabue supports replay

NFL commissioner says the call against the Bucs was the right one to make, and that's why the system is in place.

By RICK STROUD

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 29, 2000

ATLANTA -- Tampa Bay fans do not have a sympathetic ear in Paul Tagliabue.

The NFL commissioner lauded the implementation of the instant-replay system that reversed an apparent reception by Bucs receiver Bert Emanuel in Sunday's NFC Championship Game.

In fact, Tagliabue held it up as a prime example for which the system was designed.

"I think the call in Sunday's game on the Bert Emanuel catch -- or no catch -- was a good example of what we were trying to accomplish with replay," Tagliabue said Friday. "There was a replay that clearly showed the ball hit the ground. The rule is that when the ball hits the ground, it's not a catch. It doesn't matter that the player may appear to have possession or control on his way to the ground. If the ball hits the ground, it's not a catch. The simple terms of the rule is the ground cannot assist with making a catch. So they got that right with the help of replay. And I think that's the type of play where we want it to apply and hopefully it can apply directly as it did Sunday."

The Bucs were driving for what could have been the game-winning touchdown behind rookie quarterback Shaun King. His 13-yard pass to Emanuel left the Bucs facing third and 10 after burning their final timeout with 47 seconds left. But instant-replay official Jerry Markbreit used the play stoppage to signal to referee Bill Carollo the play should be reviewed.

Carollo then reversed the call on the field after determining that the tip of the ball hit the ground. The Bucs were back to third and 23. King threw two incompletions and the game ended.

Tampa Bay fans have bombarded newspapers, other media outlets, and yes, league offices, with complaints about the ruling that reversed Emanuel's reception.

But Tagliabue was unwavering in his support of the call and in the replay system.

"I think it accomplished what we wanted, which was to have an insurance policy against the dramatic play that can be a season-changing play," Tagliabue said. "In the early part of the season there were some bumps. I think the latter part of the season, it was implemented very well. After the season, we'll see what refinements we can make, in terms of what kinds of plays are covered."

Tagliabue also used his State of the NFL address to single out another incident from the NFC Championship Game. He said he was concerned by what he called "some deterioration of conduct" among players, particularly the scuffle involving Rams safety Bill Jenkins and Bucs inactive quarterback Trent Dilfer.

"There were injured players out of uniform on the field in the Sunday game, the Rams-Bucs game, beginning to take swipes at each other," Tagliabue said. "We had what I call the Tre Johnson episode in the Redskins game where the fight came to an end. Twenty or so players recognized it was time to cool down. One player didn't and got all agitated, started swinging. The fight flares up again and in the process hits the official two or three times. We've had other conduct that can only be described as provocative but juvenile, which we have fined people for.

"You don't see the Cris Carters doing this sort of thing. You didn't see the Walter Paytons doing this type of thing. You don't see the overwhelming number of players doing this thing. And we have about 35,000 plays a year in all of our games in the regular season. Considering you have 22 players on the field for every play, you have about 800,000 opportunities for players to either do the right thing or the wrong thing during the course of the regular season. You have half a dozen or 10 players get into throat-slashing gestures.

"The first thing I think that's important to recognize is you've got 799,990 players who did the right thing on all of those plays and all of those opportunities to participate in the game."

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