NFL Ups Conditioning Standards for Refs to Keep Up With Chip Kelly Offense

“You see the likes of Coach Kelly,” says NFL Executive VP of Operations Troy Vincent. “And that high tempo office. They’re running rapid plays. The ball needs to be spotted rapidly, and we need to make sure that our officials are also evolving to the pace of that game.”

Darlington also notes that NFL VP of Officials Dean Blandino will have a line of direct line communication from his New York office with the refs on the field during replay reviews to discuss the calls. This development would definitely seem to be ideal, but hopefully won’t result in logjams if there are several calls challenged at the same time during the especially busy 1pm slate.