Chiefs quarterback Pat Mahomes believes there’s a way to improve NFL officiating, and that way is already inside the football.
The NFL already has a microchip inside their footballs. It’s these microchips that help the league and their broadcast networks provide all those advanced stats, such as ball speed, angle, height, etc.
However, Mahomes thinks that chip could also be used to help officials know when a ball has crossed the goal-line.
“I’ve always thought the chip in the ball has to happen sometime, where if you cross the line, it just tells you a touchdown,” Mahomes said on the WHOOP podcast. “The biggest thing to me is when they get in the pile by the end zone. There is literally no way to tell if he’s in the end zone or not. It’s like you said. It’s just whatever they call. … I’m sure it’ll happen soon enough.”
As Pro Football Talk notes, the problem with calls around the goal-line is not as simple as merely determining when the ball crosses the line.
Michael David Smith writes, “The question is usually, which happened first, the ball crossing the goal line or the runner’s knee touching the ground? And a chip in the ball can’t answer that question.”
Of course, the league could start micro-chipping players’ knees to figure out when they’re down. Though, the players union might have something to say about that.