Jon Gruden Says He'd Get Rid of Instant Replay Completely

Gruden believes the constant interruption of replay review is a detriment to the game

If you’ve ever grown frustrated over how often NFL games in 2015 are stopped so officials can convene for a long, commercial-filled instant replay review, NFL head coach turned Monday Night Football announcer Jon Gruden is right there with you.

In a recent interview with Men’s Fitness, Gruden expressed his belief that the constant interruptions are sucking the fun out of the game to some degree—and if he were in charge, he says he’d just get rid of replay completely.

“I would eliminate all of it,” Gruden said, per ProFootballTalk. “Everything’s disputed now. Was he inbounds? Was it a turnover? It’s taken the juice out of the stadium. There are too many timeouts. Let the people on the field officiate and hold them accountable. Look, there’s going to be some bang-bang plays that have to be officiated. And who’s going to make the decision? The instant replay man in New York City?”

It’s worth noting here, as PFT’s Michael David Thompson did, that Gruen has a peculiar reason for hating replay review: It was his Raiders that saw their title hopes extinguished in 2001 when, on review, it was ruled that the Patriots’ Tom Brady was tucking the ball when Charles Woodson knocked it out—and therefore not a fumble.

So, you know, you’d probably hate replay, too.

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