Mike Francesa, Gaming the System, Explains how to get an Automatic NFL Replay Canceled for your Benefit

Jim Harbaugh did it last year in the infamous handshake game. Bruce Arians did it purposely knowing he'd get a 15 yard unsportsmanlike penalty against the Packers this year simply because he wanted to argue with the refs. What'd they do? The coaches threw a challenge flag on plays that are automatically reviewed. Rule 15, Section 9 states that the penalty for initiating a challenge when a team is prohibited from doing so is a loss of 15 yards.

But also in Section 9 is the statement that any foul that delays the ensuing snap makes the previous play unreviewable. Coaches throwing a flag on plays that are automatically reviewed would do that (delay the ensuing snap). YT user peteykirch gives this example: "Team A forces a fumble and recovers the ball, from upstairs the Coach is told the Team B Ball Carrier was down before the ball came out. Team A throws the flag, so the play won't be reviewed thus keeping the ruling on the field."

Mike Francesa agrees. (And thank God he's only watching the game -- controlling it.)



Football Zebras, however, disagrees, "An exception is that the replay official may challenge an aspect of the play that benefits the team that did not challenge when the other team did. The rule was added to prevent a team from taking an intentional penalty to give the replay booth extra time to consider a review, although it did not exclude penalties during a dead-ball period after a score or change of possession."

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