Walt Anderson: NFL will expand replay assist for clear and obvious fouls

The NFL has embraced replay assist in recent years. It will soon be embracing it even more.

Appearing Sunday on NFL Network, NFL rules analyst Walt Anderson acknowledged that the (latest) missed facemask foul from Monday night's Bengals-Cowboys game. After explaining how and why the referee and umpire (who are both behind the quarterback) can not see it happen, Anderson acknowledged that the league will be expanding replay assist even more.

"What we're gonna end up doing is taking a look at a lot of plays," Anderson said. "What are some of the things that real quickly we can help the officials with seeing, because we've first got to be able to determine is it for sure a clear and obvious foul? Which this is. This is a clear and obvious facemask foul penalty that we missed."

The vow to use replay in the future is good. Not waiting this long to do it would have been better.

Anderson's admission made the league's decision not to fine Cowboys linebacker Marist Liufau for the grabbing and pulling of Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow's facemask even more strange. If the goal in not fining Liufau was to not bring extra attention to the blown call, that went out the window when Anderson said what he said on Sunday.

We'll say one last thing. The two critical words are "clear" and "obvious." The people (whoever they are, which is part of the problem) who are in charge of replay assist need to always remember the standard for changing the ruling on the field. It's not a fresh look; the ruling on the field deserves a significant amount of deference.

That's important because, frankly, on Monday night that was ignored. The catch and fumble by Bengals receiver Andrei Iosivas was overturned to an incompletion by replay assist, without (in our view) clear and obvious evidence.

So, yes, it's good the NFL will be using replay assist more and more. But it still needs to be used properly — unless and until the NFL decides to put a member of the officiating crew in a video booth and have that official behave like a full-fledged member of the crew.