The NFL is re-evaluating its scheduling process in a bid to avoid the short turnaround of having teams playing on Sunday night and then travel to play on Thursday, Troy Vincent told The Associated Press.
“That’s tough, and we’ll have to look at that,” the league’s vice president of football operations said during a visit to Buffalo on Thursday. “Ideally, that’s not something that we would like to have.”
Vincent was referring to last month, when Washington beat Green Bay in a prime-time game on Nov. 20, and then lost a late afternoon game at Dallas four days later.
He said the league prefers that both teams playing on Thursday would be scheduled to play early Sunday afternoon games the previous weekend.
Vincent said the issue is on the league’s agenda and has also been raised with the NFL’s senior vice president of broadcasting Howard Katz, who oversees the schedule.
That’s welcome news to Washington coach Jay Gruden, who called it a “no-brainer,” when informed of Vincent’s comments.
“The recovery time for these players after a physical football game needs to be more than what we got. And then you throw a plane ride in on top of it, it makes it pretty difficult,” Gruden told The AP. “It can be done because we did it. But I think the schedule maker should really look at that and not put somebody in that predicament again.”
Days before the game at Dallas, Gruden called the schedule unfair and said his biggest worry was the health of his team.
The shorter turnaround between games, such as what happened to Washington, is a rare occurrence. It has happened just seven times over the past 11 seasons, and only three of those instances involved a team playing on Sunday night and then again on Thanksgiving.
Vincent cited league data in saying there is no indication that injuries have increased involving teams playing on three days’ rest.
Otherwise, Vincent said, the NFL plans to continue playing weekly games on Thursday, with all 32 games being scheduled to play at least once per season.
NFL TO CBS ALL ACCESS — CBS says NFL games are coming to its CBS All Access subscription service, making it a little easier for “cord cutters” to watch football without a pricey cable subscription.
The ability to easily watch live sports is one of most important reasons people pay for traditional cable bundles. NFL games are already streamed live, but in many cases still require a satellite or cable TV subscription.
Games aired on CBS will be available for streaming on tablets, to TVs and on cbs.com starting Sunday, if customers live in one of the 150 markets where the CBS All Access app comes with a live CBS feed. The games aren’t available on CBS’ phone app, as those mobile rights are exclusive to Verizon.
The multiyear deal includes regular, preseason and postseason games shown on CBS. Thursday night games will become available next year — CBS’ allotment is finished for this season — and so will the Super Bowl when CBS has it again in 2019.
CBS All Access costs $6 a month, or $10 for a version with fewer ads. It also has episodes of CBS shows, some classic TV like “Cheers” and “Frasier,” and a handful of original shows.
FULL-TIME OFFICIALS — Get ready for some full-time NFL officials to start throwing yellow flags next year.
Vincent said he expects the NFL to hire as many as 17 full-time officials this offseason.
The additions are allowed under the collective bargaining agreement and would increase the size of officiating crews from seven to eight, Vincent said during a visit to Buffalo.
“This is a topic of discussion daily,” he said, noting the league will need to consult with the NFL Referees Association.
Vincent said, the league is already receiving input from coaches, general managers and owners. And, he said, hiring full-time officials and discussions to expand replay reviews top the agenda of the NFL’s competition committee, which is scheduled to meet in February following the Super Bowl.
Currently, NFL officiating crews are part-time staff and hold jobs outside of football.
Vincent says full-time officials would allow the NFL to spend more time on training and consultation on a year-round basis.
What has yet to be decided is where the additional official would line up on the field. One proposal is introducing a middle sideline judge to monitor interior defensive line penalties. Another is to oversee hits to the quarterback.
Vincent said the league is studying the officiating model recently adopted by college football’s top conferences, which now have eight on-field officials. The Big 12 started the experiment by using eight in 2013, with other conferences following a year later.
Last season, the NCAA approved the use of eight on-field officials for all levels of football in 2015.
The NFL’s collective bargaining agreement includes a clause allowing the league to hire no more than 17 game officials as full-time employees as of the 2013 season.
Vincent said the league has used that time to study potential options to improve officiating, including through replays or adding administrative staff.
Citing NFL statistics, Vincent noted the league’s current officials have an accuracy rate of more than 97 percent. It’s only during those few occasions where a gaffe is magnified, he said, that they get so much attention.
Vincent said the league’s full-time officials would not supersede the authority of the referee.