One of the most controversial rules implemented on a test trial during the 2019 NFL season was the pass interference review. As a direct result of a controversial call in the previous season’s NFC Championship Game between the New Orleans Saints and the Los Angeles Rams, the league decided to introduce this rule on a 31-1 vote but it looks like it’s existence has come to an unceremonious end after just one year.
According to the chairman of the NFL’s competition committee, Rich McKay, pass interference calls will no longer be reviewable:
NFL Competition Committee Chairman Rich McKay confirms to @SiriusXMNFL that pass interference penalties will NOT be reviewable again in 2020. “We’re not going to vote on - because nobody is putting forward - the OPI/DPI review again."
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) May 7, 2020
The implementation of the review system for pass interference calls was a problem from the get-go, with calls on the field hardly ever getting overturned — even in obvious-looking situations — and the league simply being unable to create clear guidelines as to what does or does not constitute pass interference or a call-altering offense. The intention behind the rule itself may have been a good one, but the NFL simply failed to execute it properly.
The league, and the New England Patriots as part of it, probably won’t be sad to see it go.