The Buffalo Bills will look forward to the upcoming offseason rather than reminisce on another ugly, controversy-filled season finale.
However, the Bills will not soon forget their first-down-that-wasn’t in the fourth quarter of this year’s AFC Championship Game against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead, which rival players referred to as a heist.
The Bills were denied what appeared to be a clean first down on third and fourth down plays twice in a row, forcing them to punt with around 13 minutes left in the game, drastically changing the game’s momentum in favor of the Chiefs at a vital point.
Following the Bills/Chiefs incident, fans and media members alike called for the elimination of the old-fashioned referee spot system and the “chain gang” in favor of a more exact measurement equipment to compute first downs.
As a result, the NFL said in early February that they were “considering” transitioning to an electronic system, just a few days after the title game, and it appears that they have finally made a final decision.
NFL Moving To “Electronic” 1st Down Measurement
According to Ari Meirov, the NFL will immediately implement an electronic system to measure first downs, while the crew managing the chains will remain in place as a backup; this, one imagines, will eventually be phased out if the system runs smoothly for the first year or so.
Camera equipment is already deployed in every stadium in the league, and because the move is procedural rather than a comprehensive rule change, league executives at the NFL combine stated that owners do not need to vote to approve this step.
During the preseason, the NFL experimented with electronically spotted first downs but decided against implementing them until last month’s incident.
And the electronic system will not deduce the exact position of the ball; rather, sideline officials will spot the ball, and the spot will be electronically determined whether it constitutes a first down using a “Hawk-eye” system, similar to the one used in major tennis tournaments.
Bills Vindication Is Too Little, Too Late
While Buffalo and their supporters will be relieved that this modification has finally been implemented, many in the Bills Mafia will wonder why it was not done sooner, given past experiments with the same exact technology.
A change that may have altered the direction of the playoffs; but, the NFL brass did not want to apply an expensive, new, semi-experimental technique right away, preferring to wait until it became a hot-button topic throughout the league.
In one little bright lining, the Bills are vindicated for a “robbery” of sorts, as the league practically admits to making a huge mistake at a vital juncture. But it’s still too little, too late for Buffalo, who must nurse their wounds and prepare for another season in which they hope to finally overcome their Patrick Mahomes-shaped plateau.
