Oakland Raiders: Jon Gruden Has Solution For Replay Problem
By Erik Lambert
Jon Gruden has not coached a game in 10 years and now he’s expected to turn around the Oakland Raiders for the second time in his life.
It’s hard to imagine him doing that with any new ideas. The man is in his 50s now, far from the young gun he was in his glory days. Most of his ideas have come across as a little more old school. It’s a bit surprising given he’s been so close to many of the newer trends in the league as a special analyst for Monday Night Football. Then again everybody knows the saying about old dogs and new tricks. He’s largely set in his ways at this point.
That said, Gruden is not above offering his opinion on how to improve the game. It may not involve a revolutionary idea but it certainly doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with going back to what worked before. One area of the game he’s not enamored with these days is the instant replay system. While he’d largely prefer just dumping it entirely, Gruden did offer one compromise that might help to solve some of its biggest problems.
Gruden thinks taking slow motion from replays will make decisions easier
"“I think slow-mo replay is the biggest problem with replay,” he said. “When you’re looking at is it a catch or isn’t it a catch at that speed it’s hard to tell. So I think if you threw that slow-mo out, I think you’d get back to common sense. Let the naked eye determine some of these calls. But it always looks like pass interference when you’re going that slow; it always seems to look a little bit more dramatic in slow motion.”"
It’s actually not a terrible idea. Slow motion does tend to make calls a bit more complicated than easier, and there’s also the fact its usage tends to slow the game down, killing the momentum of the action. Its elimination would quicken the pace of games, eating up less time and making them more enjoyable for fans to watch.
Aside from being a coach, Gruden has never been shy about showing he’s also a huge fan of football too. He wants to make the game more fun to watch. Sure this rule change might make things easier for his team, but it’s far more beneficial, in his mind, to the game as a whole.