Larry Hill recognized the voice on the telephone in late April. But Hill -- an NFL referee the previous five years -- was stunned to hear what Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs had to say: He wanted Hill to join the Washington Redskins' staff.
"I knew it was him because I heard his voice so much on TV, but I was very surprised to get the call," Hill said yesterday. "I've never rooted for a team or been involved with one. But he was very persuasive in asking me to do it."
Joe Gibbs did not challenge a spot following a Mark Brunell scramble that left his club with fourth and inches at the Tampa Bay 3-yard line. The Redskins are the only team to have a referee on staff to help review replay challenges during games.
(John McDonnell - The Washington Post)
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Soon, Gibbs and Gregg Williams, Washington's assistant head coach-defense, interviewed Hill at Redskins Park about becoming a full-time consultant.
Because no other team had hired a referee to become its replay official, Hill sought permission from the NFL and was given the green light. His duties include attending every game to advise Gibbs on replay challenges, overseeing the referees hired to work practices and tabulating all the penalties called in practice, looking for tendencies of individual players.
"The game has so many parts to it," Gibbs said yesterday. "It's good to have someone up there who has tremendous experience. Is it [a play] reviewable? Is it close? Sometimes it's close and we can't tell."
While Gibbs was on an 11-year hiatus from the NFL after retiring in 1993, the league instituted several significant changes, including replay challenges. Thus, Gibbs -- known for his innovative ideas when he coached from 1981 to 1992 -- made the unique hire to help him deal with the new rules.
The game has changed in other ways that affect Gibbs on game days. He now can talk directly to his quarterback, who wears a radio in his helmet. And he has five fewer seconds to get his team ready for each snap of the ball.
In Sunday's 16-10 season-opening victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Gibbs did not challenge the placement of the football that left his club with fourth and inches at the Tampa Bay 3-yard line. On third and one, quarterback Mark Brunell sprinted up the middle to escape pressure and appeared to slide inside the 2-yard line for a first down.
With the ball placed at the 3, Gibbs sent in John Hall to kick a 20-yard field goal that gave the Redskins a 10-0 lead. Gibbs said the overriding factor in his decision to go for three points was the risk of losing momentum, and that Hill didn't recommend a challenge. (Coaches make a challenge by throwing a red flag onto the field before the ensuing play.)
Yesterday, Hill held his daily meeting with Washington's coaching staff, detailing why he didn't tell Gibbs to challenge. Hill saw three replays but felt that the two camera angles used weren't sufficient to get the call overruled. The angles shown were with Brunell running toward the camera, plus a view from behind.
"The best angle to use is straight down the sideline, straight in, a 90-degree angle," said Hill, a replay official in last season's Super Bowl. "The TV didn't have that angle. We would have lost the challenge and the timeout."
Hill added that the yellow line shown on television indicating how far an offense has to go for a first down isn't official. "That's a TV product to help the fans know where the first-down line is," Hill said. "That was probably at least a half a yard off."
Although the NFL had an instant replay system during Gibbs's first stint, coaches weren't allowed to challenge calls. Whether a replay merited a review was left to an official in a replay booth. In 1999, the NFL permitted coaches to issue two challenges each game. If correct, the call is reversed. If incorrect, the team loses a timeout. The league tweaked its policy before this season: Coaches can still request two replays per game. If the team is correct on both challenges, the coach earns a third challenge.
Most NFL coaches give assistant coaches heavy input in making challenges. One factor in Gibbs hiring Hill was that coaches tend to become emotionally attached to plays. Despite replays, challenges are often split-second decisions that require neutrality.
