Red Flag

There is a misconception in the NFL that there are televisions in the coach’s booths of the NFL. There is a television advertisement that airs on television during the presented by Samsung depicting a scenario in which a controversial play happened and was to be challenged by the coach. The television advertisement goes on to show coaches looking at a Samsung television positioned in the coach’s booth, and after viewing the replay, a coach in the advertisement commercial relays on his radio head-set down to the coaches on the sideline saying, “Challenge it!”

This was a very well-thought and directed television commercial, however there is one problem with the commercial; it does not depict reality.

This is where I throw my red flag for a challenge.

There is language written in the National Football League Constitution and Bylaws that states in part, there shall be no live video or streaming media in the coach’s booth during the while the football game is in progress.  Still videos are allowed, but no live video.  So when you see the players and coaches sitting on the sidelines benches looking at picture books, this is all the coaches in the coach’s booth are allowed to see as well.

Next time you are watching an NFL football game, and you see a coach being a little hesitant to throw his red “challenge flag”, he is not waiting for a coach in the coach’s booth to give him the go ahead from any replay he is viewing in the replay booth.  The only replay or video opportunity the coaches have for viewing is the replay being played on the stadium jumbotron, and the viewers at home have WAY more angles of viewing a controversial play than anyone in the stadium, other than the referee under the hood.

When your buddy starts yelling at the television screen and calling the coach “stupid” for not challenging a play, just remember he does not have access to the same information you do as a viewer.

Now you have more access than the coaches in the coach’s booth and the head coach on the field.