Steelers/Ravens: Was it a Touchdown?

Each week the NFL sees at least one highly contested call that decides the outcome of the game. This week it was a late Santonio Holmes touchdown that helped the Steelers stun the Ravens in Baltimore.

Late in the fourth quarter Holmes caught a pass right at the goal line and was tackled. He was ruled down at the one-yard line, the referees claiming that the ball never broke the plane of the end zone. The booth called for a replay and after taking a look at it Walt Coleman ruled that the ball had broken the plane and the play was overturned: Touchdown.

Needless to say, this was a highly contested call as it handed the Steelers the win. I’m going to have to say that there was no clear evidence that the ball crossed the goal line. The replays showed the ball near the area, but there was no definitive angle that showed the ball touch the end of the white line, that’s why I’m so shocked that the play was overturned. I’m not arguing that the play wasn’t a touchdown; I’m arguing that there wasn’t enough evidence to overturn the call on the field.

Which leads directly into my next point: I’ve been saying for years – pretty much since I started watching the NFL – that they should put computer chips in the footballs and sensors in the field, that way it would take the guesswork out of touchdowns. Finally someone in the realm of legitimate sports media agrees with me.

Here’s my proposal:

Put a microchip in each nose of the football and eight chips in a ring around the fattest part of the football. The sensor technology might be a little trickier to figure out. It might be possible to put some sort of proximity sensor under the turf, or maybe place beams on the sidelines. I’m not sure how that would work – I’m no engineer – but if they have sensors to stop you from shoplifting at Sears the NFL should be able to figure something out.

The replay system would remain intact, but it would not be relied upon to determine something as inexact as whether the ball reached the end zone or not.

The system wouldn’t be foolproof. There are plenty of instances where the ball crosses the goal line and it doesn’t result in a touchdown, like incomplete passes or situations where a player’s knee goes down before the ball breaks the plane, but it would take the guesswork out of the was-he-in-or-not situations like a running back leaping and extending over the pile.

If the ball breaks the plane the sensor will be tripped and a red light or a siren or something like that will be activated, like in hockey. It’s then up to the referees to determine if the player was down before the ball crossed the plane, or if they retained possession, etc.

This isn’t a cure-all plan that would end reffing mistakes, all it would do is prove definitively whether the ball crossed the goal line or not.


Update:
There are plenty of other people out there proposing solutions to this problem.

This person proposes that you use GPS to track the football on the field for scoring and first-down purposes, although I don't think that would be exact enough. I'm pretty sure GPS is accurate to about 10 feet, not the 10 millimeters we'd need.

This person brings up an interesting point. We can make invisible fences and shock collars for dogs, why can't we just adapt that technology and give the refs buzzing pagers that would activate if the ball crosses the line. And on an interesting note, one of the commentors recommends putting light-up sensors in player's shoes, to determine if their feet are inbounds for catches, etc.