The Tennessee Titans will have the chance to learn one of the newest changes to the NFL, which is something that Sports Illustrated detailed as a great opportunity and big storyline ahead of the first week of the regular season. Here is what the writer had to say.
New Challenge Flag Process Is Something the Titans Can Learn During Preseason
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
"The NFL recently passed a resolution to allow coaches to designate a challenge flag thrower. The timing of this resolution is interesting because, when I reached out to a pair of NFL head coaches Monday, neither had really been able to dig into the mechanics of it yet—and we’re just a few weeks from the start of the regular season. The consensus was that this would add another step in a procedure that is already fairly efficient: The person in charge of looking for challenge-worthy situations in the booth pings the head coach and the head coach throws the flag. Now, that same procedure would add a different step, since both coaches agreed they would still want to approve of the flag throw. Deputizing someone else to handle that situation would be worth exploring; however, it puts the responsibility on an assistant that a coach’s instinct is to protect. Think of it like game-management coaches, who are rarely—if ever—made available for interviews or publicly held accountable for timeout mistakes or the misuse of the clock. (Plug: I recently had Super Bowl–winning analyst Ryan Paganetti on the MMQB Podcast to talk a lot more about that role.) That said, the preseason is an ideal ground for experimentation (purposeful or not, as Panthers offensive coordinator Brad Idzik told reporters that his headset went out in the Hall of Fame Game and he had to signal in plays in high school style). Coaches allow subordinates to call plays and will likely toy with the feel of passing off the challenge flag responsibility to see how it feels in a live scenario. There have been examples—see the Nathaniel Hackett Broncos—where teams have changed up their game management tactics in the middle of the actual season, but most of the time these processes need to be ironed out before Week 1. I think we can all imagine a hesitant designated challenge flag thrower factoring into the season in a major way," Conor Orr said from Sports Illustrated.
The game of football is won by yards and inches, which leaves the challenge flag as something that is needed in critical moments. For the Titans, they will need to be smart with this flag, as they will want any possible progress compared to where they stood last season.
