NFL owners consider tweaking pass interference reviews

Owners voted in March to allow interference calls or non-calls to be challenged by coaches and reviewed via replay as a one-year experiment.

The tweak proposed this week would take the decision to review pass interference in the final two minutes of each half out of the hands of the officials. Reviews in the final two minutes would require a coach’s challenge, too.

“The concern is how many stoppages will we end up within the last two minutes,” Atlanta Falcons president and CEO Rich McKay said Tuesday. “One thing we do not want to do is be a game that has multiple stops in the last two minutes.”

Under the rule adopted in March, in the final two minutes only officials in the booth can stop the game for reviews involving pass interference, as is the case with other reviewable plays.

Owners are expected to vote on whether to let the NFL competition committee decide on changing the rule after it discusses the subject with the league’s coaches. McKay, a member of the committee, said the group has conference calls with coaches scheduled for early June.

Owners also will consider a proposal to exempt Hail Mary passes so they’re not reviewable. That would require the league coming up with the definition of a Hail Mary.

“I actually don’t think it’s that hard,” McKay said. “It’s going to be from what yard line was it thrown, were there multiple receivers, how much time is left on the clock. But you want to get input from the coaches — what definition are you comfortable with?”

Future host sites for the draft also will be discussed. The 2020 draft will be in Las Vegas, the new home of the Raiders.

It’s uncertain whether owners will act on a proposed rule change that would require each team to have one possession in overtime. The change is being pushed by the Kansas City Chiefs, who lost last season’s AFC championship game without getting the ball in overtime because the Patriots won the toss, received the kickoff and scored a touchdown.