The NFL is a little too late to make a rule change that would have put the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl 59 against the Philadelphia Eagles. Instead, the rule change is coming for next season but who knows if the Bills will even be in a situation where the rule change could benefit them. Knowing their luck, it will go against them.
According to Mike Garafolo, the gameday chain-gang will now be the backup for the “Hawk-Eye” virtual measurement in any kind of close yardage situation.
Among the interesting items from an NFL football ops session with media: the Hawk-Eye virtual measurement for line to gain is slated to replace the chains as the primary measurement system for the regular season in 2025.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) February 26, 2025
The chain gang will remain on sidelines as a backup. pic.twitter.com/v9exggobVc
Garafolo then followed up this statement by breaking down the time difference it takes for the chain gang to measure as compared to virtual. According to Garafolo, the average time for the staff members running the chains takes about 75 seconds. With the virtual measurements in the testing phase, it would take about 30 seconds to get an accurate measurement.
Too many teams in the league have come out on the wrong end of a bad call that involved ball placement. Whether it was crossing the first-down/goaline and it not being in favor of the offense, or an offense coming up short of the placement yet the referees give a generous spotting that ultimately screws over the defense.
If this change had been implemented sooner, the Bills would have played football in February
Going back to the AFC championship game against the Chiefs, there was a moment in the game where the Bills called their tush push play, that usually always works against opponents. However, Kansas City did manage to stop Buffalo, but there was one tush push where Josh Allen was clearly over the first down line on fourth down that would have kept Buffalo’s drive alive.
Instead, the referees made a very controversial call to screw over the Bills and give the ball back to Kansas City. That call would eventually come back to work against the Bills as they lost 32-29 and fell just short of a Super Bowl appearance.
Instead, football fans were forced to watch another Chiefs vs. Eagles Super Bowl even though a lot of them wanted to see the Bills and Commanders in the big game. We give credit to the NFL for finding ways to make improvements, but it’s too late to help the Bills now.