NFL officiating head: Dunking football will be prohibited

We talked to NFL officiating head Dean Blandino after Tuesday’s show to talk about the new rule on instant replay and other proposals the League is reviewing at the owners’ meetings.

Blandino went into more depth on the new replay system that will rely on the New York command center for help. He explained that the referee … and only the referee … will have the ability to communicate with the replay official and command center via a wireless system.

“The referee still has final say,” Blandino said. “We’re there to assist and consult.”

Blandino also talked about celebrations and explained there’s a rule against using the ball as a prop. Players can no longer dunk the ball over the goalpost. Blandino explained dunking the ball and things like the Lambeau Leap had been grandfathered in. But now players will be penalized for dunking the ball.

Blandino said that there is a proposal to add new cameras, but that hasn’t been voted on yet.

Blandino also said there is a proposal to expand replay on recovery of a loose ball on the field of play (the Navarro Bowman play in the NFC title game).

Dan asked Blandino about pass interference. Blandino said it’s been discussed, along with personal fouls and proposals to review everything. “There are some issue with that in terms of how many reviews we have,” Blandino said. “Are those really objective facts?”

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