The decision to change the game in the Bills-Broncos final was lost at that time. Since then it has been a hot topic of conversation throughout the game.
The folks at NFL Network, which is owned and operated by the league, reiterated that point during Sunday morning’s show. A critical decision by Buffalo receiver Brandin Cooks to fail to complete the catch and Denver linebacker Ja’Quan McMillian’s catch happened too quickly, with no explanation from referee Carl Cheffers about the decision on the field and/or any review of it.
During his weekly appearance on NFL Network’s Sunday pregame show, NFL spokesman Walt Anderson went over the reasoning that led to this game not being a catch but a distraction. The ball, according to Anderson, came loose when Cooks hit the ground, and it ended up in McMillian’s possession.
Anderson said that both the replay assistant at the stadium “and New York” reviewed the decision of the intervention court.
Steve Mariucci pressed Anderson on another key point: “Who made the call?”
Anderson said, in the league office, there are officials who play quickly, “with multiple people at the same time reviewing every game.” Anderson pointed to the “millions of dollars” the NFL has invested in the Hawk-Eye camera system, so they can view all angles, communicate, and confirm calls on the field.
To his credit, Mauriucci kept pressing Anderson. Why, Mauriucci asked, didn’t referee Carl Cheffers explain the situation to the millions watching the game?
Anderson said, even without full replay review, every game is reviewed by multiple people. “If you can confirm that the decision on the field was correct, they want to move the game,” said Anderson.
Anderson then added that CBS did a good job of explaining the situation to the audience. Marieucci laughed and said he didn’t want to hear about it from Tony Romo.
“I think Carl should have done that,” Mauriucci said.
Colleen Wolfe then said “more transparency would be good.” You are absolutely right.
We’ve been saying for years that there should be public access to the replay review process, whether it’s during a quick look or a full review. We need to see what they see, and hear what they have to say. The current process, as Kyle Brandt said at the beginning of the show, feels “Orwellian.”
That risked taking the on-field replay review (where the referee makes replay decisions) from the league office. At that time, we believed that Dean Blandino would make all the revision decisions. And maybe he would have been, if he hadn’t left Fox because, as Blandino later said, the NFL “doesn’t value the position.”
Now, apparently there is not a single person whose name is in these decisions. Combining that with zero transparency creates a natural curiosity about how and why such an important decision was made – and why it seemed so quick.
It’s one thing to tune in to a regular season game that started with a set of 1:00 pm ET kickoffs. There is also another slippage of the engine in overdrive when there is a lot riding on the result.
That is separate from whether the call was correct (there was no attempt to reconcile the decision Week 14 Steelers-Ravens matchup what started as an interception was ended by replay review as being caught by Aaron Rodgers). Instead of Gene Steratore translating the CBS video evidence, we should have heard about it from the people who made the decision, while they were making it.
First, it would be very helpful to know who actually makes these decisions. We still don’t know.
From the official rulebook: “All Replay Reviews shall be conducted by the Executive Vice President or designee.” As explained last month after back-to-back passes, two points reignited in Rams-Seahawks, we don’t even know who is the current VP of Administration.
And we certainly don’t know who he’s picked for some of the most important decisions of the entire 2025 season. At least, it should.
