Why New Replay Rule Will Ruin Flow of NFL Games

The NFL's new rule that all turnovers will be reviewed by replay is a good idea in theory, but in practice it will destroy the flow and momentum in games. 

All turnovers in NFL games will now be subject to review from the booth with no coaches' challenges required. ESPN cited a statistic claiming that 52 percent of plays were reversed on challenges in 2011. That was the highest rate in the past 11 seasons. 

Again, this rule is a good idea in theory, but too often challenge reviews take too much time and ruin the flow of games. I'm usually a proponent of getting it right, but by reviewing every turnover, it will sap the momentum a team gets as a result of a play. We've seen this happen in college football over the past few years as more plays have been subject to review. 

On the majority of plays, the officials get it right. On the rare occasions that plays were challenged, they were apparently wrong 52 percent of the time in 2011. It seems like the system of coaches challenging those close plays is working if the results have been essentially a 50-50 split.

The new system for turnovers will be much like the system implemented for all plays ruled a score in 2010. A booth will review the play and if it is questionable it will be sent down to the field for the referee to review. 

The first review will result in a pause on the field while the officials await confirmation from the booth. Then if a ruling is questioned, the official will have to walk over to the booth and review it. That's a heck of a lot of time to waste when football is already plagued with on-field media timeouts. 

I understand the NFL's desire to get things right, but this is just another way that the game will be slowed down, ruining the momentum and flow of contests.