The Steelers have long been a team against the expansion of replay as a means to "fix" the problems in NFL games.
And with replay and changes to the system a big part of potential new rules that will be voted on at the annual league meetings in Phoenix, which will begin Sunday, team president Art Rooney II reiterated that feeling.
Mike Tomlin sits on the league's Competition Committee, which, along with proposals put forth by individual teams, has come up with a list of proposed rules changes teams will vote on next week. Many deal with expansions of replay. But Rooney said he and his head coach have not yet sat down to discuss those issues.
"We will do that over the weekend and decide what our position is on some of these things," Rooney said in a conference call Friday. "What I can give you is kind of my own reaction ... the biggest potential rules change revolves around replay and expanding replay. It seems like that happens almost every year.
"I think our position in general on replay is that we're not really all that excited that replay could be expanded. We'll approach it with that in mind. We have a lot that's already reviewable in the game, and I'm not that excited about adding to that list."
Among the 15 potential in-game rules proposed, nine deal with replay and the expansion of what is reviewable, including player ejections, personal fouls, pass interference, two-point conversions and spot of the ball on fourth downs.
"I would not want to see the length of the game expanded," Rooney said. "We need to try to drag it in the other direction and, if anything, try to shorten the length of it. That's No. 1. It really is the pace of the game, particularly for people in the stadium having to sit through all kinds of reviews and stuff. That's something we just have to keep in mind. The other thing I'll add to that is replay is another human being interpreting the play. And while it can be helpful in a lot of cases, when you start talking about judgment calls -- pass interference in particular -- you're still putting another human being in the spot of having to make that decision. You're just never going to get it perfect."
Replay usage on pass interference calls, in particular, became a hot topic in the league when an obvious pass interference penalty was not called late in the NFC Championship and led to the Rams beating the Saints and advancing to the Super Bowl.
The Steelers also lost in New Orleans, in part, because of two pass interference penalties called on fourth down plays against Joe Haden. The Saints scored touchdowns after both drives were kept alive by those calls, the first of which was widely ridiculed as a phantom penalty.
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Currently, pass interference penalties are not reviewable. And if a penalty is not called on the field, it is not clear in the two different rules being proposed that deal with pass interference -- both of which came at the recommendation of the Competition Committee -- if that play would be reviewable, even if the changes were to pass.
"The one proposal is that offensive and defensive pass interference would be reviewable," Rooney said. "What I'm not clear on is when we say that it is reviewable, whether that includes having a play that was not called as a foul to be changed to a foul. That is the question as to whether that play would become reviewable. That is part of the discussion. I did have a discussion with Coach Tomlin on that. And I don't know if they came out with a final recommendation. I think we'll find that out at the meeting."
One thing Rooney did feel somewhat positively about was the possibility of adding an eighth person to the officiating crew who works in the booth and is capable of correcting calls in game. That is being experimented with in the AAF.
"I think there's some discussion about both having the eighth official on the field as well has having the eighth official be the sky judge," Rooney said. "I don't think I'm very excited about having an eighth official on the field. If anything, I think the question would be, do we add an eighth official to be the sky judge?"
Currently, any play that goes under review is looked at by officials at a control center at the league offices in New York.
"I think the consideration there, does that take some of the pressure off the league office, to have a lot of plays being reviewed by the league office as opposed to the plays being reviewed in the stadium?" Rooney said. "I think there's some merit to the idea of having the crew in the stadium having control in officiating the game, so that part of it is probably worth some consideration."
Rooney also believes a change in overtime rules proposed by Kansas City that would give both teams the opportunity to possess the ball on offense, even if the team that wins the coin toss scores a touchdown on its opening drive, deserves consideration.
The Chiefs, of course, lost the AFC Championship last season to New England in overtime when the Patriots won the coin toss to start overtime and scored a touchdown on the opening possession.
The Chiefs would like to see both teams have an opportunity to play offense in overtime, instead of having the game determined, at least in part, by which one wins the coin toss.
"I think that one's worth some consideration," Rooney said. "We've got some statistics that most of the time that does happen, but I think that one merits some consideration."
But replay and its expansion will dominate the discussions next week.
"I think there's an interest in expanding replay, maybe more than I would like," Rooney said. "My hope is that whatever we do, it ends up being a limited change, whatever it is."
