Packers' Mark Murphy: Pass Interference Replay 'Results Were Not Great' in 2019

The NFL is reconsidering its revamped pass interference review rule.  

"Overall the results were not great," Green Bay Packers president and CEO Mark Murphy said Monday, per ESPN's Kevin Seifert. "And I think it really is putting the New York [officiating] office in a very difficult position. ... But it's still pretty early [and] we're looking at different options."

The league implemented a rule for the 2019 season granting coaches the ability to challenge pass interference calls and non-calls after the controversial ending to the 2019 NFC Championship Game between the Los Angeles Rams and New Orleans Saints.

"Under the new rule, teams can question interference calls and non-calls under the existing coaches' challenge system in the first 28 minutes of each half," Mark Maske of the Washington Post explained last August. "In the final two minutes of each half, an interference-related review would have to be initiated by the replay assistant in the press box."

"Replay has been the most successful when you're dealing with objective information, and we added a subjective nature to it," Murphy said. "... The challenge for a lot of coaches was trying to determine what's the standard. The standard was set pretty high. That's subjective. The decision on the field is subjective, and then the standard in review is subjective."

Senior vice president of officiating Al Riveron came under fire often throughout last season. Houston Texans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins took a veiled shot at him after a blatant pass interference penalty against him was not called even after review:

Saints head coach Sean Payton, who lost that 2018 NFC Championship Game to the Rams at least in part because of uncalled defensive pass interference late in the fourth quarter, told reporters in late November that the league could use a three-person replay team rather than relying on only Riveron's judgment.

"I think [Riveron has] got a tough job," Payton said. "And when you have a group of three, I think you're gonna arrive at more consistent calls."

Rich McKay, who serves on the NFL competition committee on top of his duties as president of the Atlanta Falcons, implored people to exercise caution in mid-October. "Let's let the season play out," he said, per ESPN's Jeremy Fowler. "It's a brand-new rule."

McKay updated his opinion Sunday (h/t Seifert): "You have to decide from a cost-benefit analysis standpoint: Is this worth it? Are we getting enough bang for our buck as far as the game goes? And that's one that the clubs have to answer."

As a whole, poor officiating was a talking point across the NFL in 2019.

In terms of the new rule, per Seifert, the league reviewed 101 offensive and defensive pass interference calls in the regular season and overturned 24 of them. Thirteen of 81 "pass interference-related plays that coaches challenged" were overturned.