While rules analysts continue to infuriate NFL viewers, they seemingly are more important than ever to networks and even the league itself.
In a new report at Pro Football Talk, NBC Sports analyst Mike Florio has fresh information on how Prime Video’s Terry McAulay played a key role in a big Seattle win.
Late in the Seahawks’ Week 16 win over the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday Night Football, the eventual Super Bowl champs ended up on the fortunate side of an official review. The outcome, which turned a Sam Darnold incompletion into a fumble recovery and two-point conversion for running back Zach Charbonnet, tied the game at 30 and helped Seattle eventually complete a comeback win. Without that, the Seahawks likely do not win the NFC West.
Florio has continued digging into the strange delay on the official review that night and is now citing three sources who say McAulay actually called his counterpart at NFL Media to encourage it in real time.
McAulay pointed out the possibility of a fumble on the Prime Video broadcast, and soon after, the officials on-field announced they were reviewing the call. And according to Florio, before saying that — and during the nearly two minutes between the incomplete pass call and the review — McAulay called NFL rules analyst Walt Anderson directly.
While the NFL has pushed back on the idea that what rules analysts say on television affects their decision-making in the replay office, it appears McAulay took matters into his own hands here.
That is not to say McAulay’s opinion became the officials’ ruling. He merely suggested a review, at which point the league’s replay office determined Darnold’s pass had indeed gone backward and was a fumble, picked up by Charbonnet.
Still, the idea of a media figure (even one like McAulay, who used to be a referee) directly affecting the outcome of a game is remarkable.