New Turnover Review Rule Could Delay Cards Games

Amongst all the rules changes that the NFL implemented yesterday, one of them was now every turnover will be reviewed in addition to every score being reviewed, a change that was made last season.  With as many turnovers the Arizona Cardinals historically commit, we could be looking at 16 longer games than usual.  Of course, we hope that isn’t the case.

Scoring plays generally are reviewed pretty quickly and didn’t cause too much of a delay, at least in my estimation, last season.  However, turnovers could be a different story.  There is a lot more to interpret and more camera angles that have to be taken into account when reviewing a turnover.  I do possibly see turnovers taking longer to review.

There is one solution to all this of course.  Don’t turn the ball over.  With the Cards though, easier said than done. It should be interesting to watch.  I imagine after awhile, like with anything else, any kinks should be worked out.  I will say this, it will be a good thing that teams do not have to waste a challenge on a turnover since they will be automatically reviewed.  It could result in a major reduction of challenges overall since a great number of challenges revolve around a turnover.  So overall, we could even see time sped up in games.  It all remains to be seen.  I always err on the side of things taking longer though.  They usually do.