Patriots coach Bill Belichick has argued in the past for more cameras in and around football fields. He’ll likely make that argument even more loudly after what happened on Sunday in Las Vegas.
Raiders receiver Keelan Cole caught a pass in the end zone. An overhead camera angle seemed to show that Cole’s left foot landed out of bounds. The league applied an unusually high standard for finding “clear and obvious” evidence, concluding that the ruling on the field should stand.
Here’s the reality. If the game hadn’t been flexed out of prime time, there would have been dispositive evidence, one way or the other.
If the game had been played on Sunday night, cameras would have been in the pylons. And one or two of those cameras would have shown whether Cole’s foot did, or didn’t, land partially on the white stripe.
So why not have pylon cameras at every game? How expensive can it be?
No matter what it costs, the league can afford it. If it’s good enough for stand-alone games, it’s good enough for every game. Because it’s important enough to help get those calls right, every time.