Death of the chain gang
Death of the chain gang
By Trevor Speetzen April 03, 2025 05:50 GMT+4 min read
The chain gang has been a staple in the NFL for over 100 years of the sport's existence. It has been the center of controversy for those 100 years as well. However, it seems that will change as the NFL will not implement “hawk-eye” technology to measure first downs.
No longer will the NFL be using ancient technology and the naked eye to determine first downs. The chain gang has provided a lot of controversy in the NFL and college football alike. The infamous index card incident will live down in history, but it’ll now no longer be a factor.
In college football, the most infamous moment was Jadeveon Clowney’s “ball don’t lie” moment against Michigan. Michigan was awarded a first down after the refs determined they had reached the line of gain.
However, to South Carolina and many football fans watching the ball was clearly short of the line of gain. The very next play, Clowney forced a fumble and South Carolina recovered it. This play is known as Clowney’s ball don’t lie moment.
Yes, no longer will we have infamous moments, controversial rulings and of course the “Chain Gang.” The chains will remain on the field as a “secondary measure,” but they’re quickly becoming obsolete and eventually extinct.
According to a tweet sent out by NFL journalist, Tom Pelissero, the NFL will use this new system as early as the 2025 regular season.
“Sony’s Hawk-Eye technology will be used by the NFL as the primary method for measuring the line to gain,” Pelissero tweeted. “The chain crew will remain on the field in a secondary capacity.”
The Sony Hawk-Eye technology has been used in tennis and international soccer for years. In those sports, the technology can quickly confirm whether the ball crosses the out-of-bounds line.
The technology has been around since 2000 and yet it took the NFL a quarter-century to finally implement this system.
This is possibly a bittersweet victory for Buffalo Bills fans as they still feel cheated after what happened in the AFC championship game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Josh Allen was declared short of the line of gain in the late stages of the game. Replays showed Allen converting the first down, but because the position of the ball wasn’t seen the refs couldn’t overturn the short of the line of gain call.
The Bills would go on to lose and the Chiefs would end up losing to the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl.
Though this new system may not accurately determine whether the ball reaches the first-down marker or not, it’ll definitely do one thing: speed up the game.
It takes roughly 30 seconds for the system to determine a first down, which would allow for quicker reviews and will let the game get back in action quickly.
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