Latest news with #GeneSteratore
USA Today
01-04-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
No more index cards: NFL to adopt Hawk-Eye tech to measure first down yardage
No more index cards: NFL to adopt Hawk-Eye tech to measure first down yardage Sometimes the NFL is pretty far behind the times. And technology. For instance they have had the technology required to gauge whether a ball had cross the first down line for years, but declined to use it, opting instead of the eye test on the chain gang. Well, that process has finally change. The Sony's Hawk-Eye technology will now be used to measure the line to gain. Which means less possibility of human error and guesswork. And -- as in at least one infamous instance -- no more index cards. You might recall a few years ago in a game between the Cowboys and Raiders when now former NFL referee-turned-TV-analyst Gene Steratore attempted to measure whether a ball had reached the first down marker by using an index card. Which would only actually work if he was absolutely sure he was completely parallel with the field lines. Something he simply couldn't know without, say, an assist from some sort of technology. As you might suspect, Steratore's rudimentary measuring device gave the Cowboys the first down and Raiders fans were furious about it. When it happened, announcer Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth were both in utter disbelief. Michaels in particularl noted that "Here we are, across the Bay from Silicon Valley, the high-tech capital of the world, and you got an index card that determines whether it's a first down or a fourth down." What's ironic, I suppose, is before the card maneuver, Cowboys' head coach Jason Garrett was complaining that the marker was leaning out and, had it been stood upright, it would show the Cowboys did have the first down, index card or not. That's a lot of perfection expected from what amounts to at least four different individuals at different points of this to figure out something so precise. Hopefully the technology here will eliminate that human error. Or at least considerably limit it.
USA Today
24-03-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Gene Steratore explained why Derik Queen's game-winning shot for Maryland wasn't a travel
Gene Steratore explained why Derik Queen's game-winning shot for Maryland wasn't a travel In general, this year's men's NCAA tournament has lacked the last-second drama that we're used to seeing in March Madness. But Sunday's second-round matchup between No. 12 seed Colorado State and No. 4 seed Maryland delivered on that front and then some. It had its share of controversy as well. After Colorado State took the lead on a Jalen Lake three-pointer with six seconds to go, Maryland went iso out of the timeout to Derik Queen. The freshman center took on a defender and banked in a shot for the win at the buzzer. Fans, though, were convinced that Queen should have been called for a travel. But in the postgame coverage, CBS rules expert Gene Steratore — who was both a former NFL and college hoops ref — explained why Queen's drive to the basket was totally legal. In Steratore's view, when Queen's dribble was technically considered over, he took the permitted two steps to the basket and into his shot. The first step, which drew plenty of the complaints, was still part of the dribble as Queen gathered and briefly bobbled the ball. It was close, but Queen didn't commit a traveling violation. And it would have taken something blatant for a ref to call it in that situation.
NBC Sports
27-01-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
It's overdue for the NFL to use technology to determine ball placement
It's time. It was already time. It's definitely time now. The technology exists to do it right. The only question is whether the NFL will make the leap — and write the check. The ball needs to be equipped with digital components that will allow for an exact measurement as to whether a player scored a touchdown or, as it relates to Sunday night's AFC Championship, whether a first down was gained. The current system is far too imperfect. And those imperfections showed tonight. Human beings using their eyes and feet to see through and around bodies in an effort to determine how far the runner carried the ball. As CBS rules analyst Gene Steratore said, it looked like quarterback Josh Allen got the ball to the line to gain before he was pulled backward on fourth and short early in the fourth quarter, with the Bills leading 22-21. It's hard to make a proper spot in real time, and it's even harder to determine with replay review whether Allen made it. The separate problem, of course, is the lack of transparency in the NFL's replay-review process. Who's making the decisions? Who's in the room when the decisions are made? What angles are they looking at? In the end, there's no reason to rely on the frailties of human estimation. Too much rides on the outcome of these games for the league to not invest in precision. They can do it. They need to do it. While a flawed call in such circumstances always hurts one team and helps the other, that's no way to ensure consistent accuracy. Or to ensure that the team that won the game truly and fully earned it. Maybe the Chiefs still would have won if the Buffalo drive had continued. The point is that the league's stubborn insistence to rely on what the officials think they saw must yield to technology that can erase all doubt. Everyone should want that. Until the NFL feels enough pressure from the teams, media, fans, and perhaps even Congress to fix it, the league won't choose to do it.
