Replay Review: How Did Pat Shurmur Do With Challenges?

by Chris Pokorny on Jan 3, 2012 10:00 PM EST

These days, it's not necessarily the head coach who makes the decision on whether to challenge a play or not, but rather the people upstairs who advise them what to do. In Pat Shurmur's first year as head coach, did he have a good challenge/overturned ratio? And how did the league's change on automatic replay reviews of scoring plays turn out?

Shurmur and the Browns weren't bad at challenging plays this season. Shurmur threw the red challenge flag seven times, and the plays were overturned five times (71.43% overturned rate). One of Shurmur's failed challenges came this past Sunday against the Steelers, when a reception by receiver Antonio Brown was upheld. Shurmur's challenge rate was at least better than what Eric Mangini's challenge rate was. In Mangini's two seasons as the Browns' head coach, he only had 2-of-13 challenges overturned (15.3% overturned rate).

Even though the sample sizes are ridiculously small to make a sound judgment, only three teams finished with a better challenge rate than the Browns: the Colts, the Jets, and the Raiders. The team with the best rate was the Jets, having 9-of-10 challenges overturned (90% overturned rate). The team with the worst rate was the Rams, having 0-of-3 challenges overturned (0% overturned rate). The most challenge-happy team was the Lions, attempting 15 challenges (with only 4 being overturned).

In terms of the review system in general, the big change this year was that all scoring plays would automatically be reviewed by the booth and were not challengable. At the beginning of the season, I had mixed feelings about this rule. I thought it was good that a team wouldn't get screwed on a bad touchdown call if they were out of challenges, but I thought it would also slow the game down tremendously (touchdown...commercial break...extra point...commercial break...kickoff...commercial break). This seemed to be the case on one play in the preseason, but when the regular season came, I don't recall there being one problem with the system. Besides a buzzer maybe not working once or twice, everything seemed to go very smooth. As for the changes to the kickoff rule, that's a story for another day.

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Shurmur’s challenge rate was at least better than what Eric Mangini’s challenge rate was. In Mangini’s two seasons as the Browns’ head coach, he only had 2-of-13 challenges overturned (15.3% overturned rate).

That is a result of the unjust unjustness that such a great, honorable head coach — who was undisputedly making progress yet was unceremoniously let go by the Holmgren fiefdom against all notions of honor, decency and the notion that a head coach making progress cannot be fired — was subjected to, against all rules of decency and fair play. The officials obviously were in on the grand conspiracy against one of the great head coaches to ever walk the sideline next to gridiron; clearly, the NFL knew that allowing Mangini to coach on a level-playing field would result in the renaming of the Lombardi trophy to the Mangini trophy. The hacks in the league office could not let that happen.

We are only so lucky that only Marcus Benard attempted suicide as a result of Mangini’s firing — clearly, the Holmgren fiefdom was putting prozac in the water to make sure that the rest of the team did not get depressed from witnessing such a horror, a horror on the level of the 20th century’s greatest crimes — the Holocaust, the Killing Field, the firing of Mangini.

In other news, the Jets failed to make the playoffs, proving once again how great Mangini was — Rex Ryan’s failings prove Mangini’s greatness.

Mangini. He is the first coming of Tebow. That is all. We beat the Patriots and the Saints last year. Two games. We won them. Best coach ever.

2010 Official DBN League Fantasy Football Champion

by TheDriveStillHurts on Jan 3, 2012 11:52 PM EST reply actions 5 recs

I was never a big fan of Mangini either, but extremity of your sarcasm is leaving a bitter taste in my mind.

Honor. Courage. Commitment.

by Brownsbacker488 on Jan 4, 2012 1:05 AM EST up reply actions 2 recs

It’s over your head

XBL - TheRabbit087. Get at me.

by SpecialBrownie on Jan 4, 2012 1:11 AM EST up reply actions

Hahahahaha. Mangini didn’t draft Sanchezismo.

DBN=Where we hate Chuck Noll for going 1-13 his first season, 5-9 his second and 6-8 his third. Oh yeah, he didn't get fired, that's why.

by The New Kardiac Kids on Jan 4, 2012 9:48 AM EST up reply actions

On topic who doesn’t love Marcus Benard…..

DBN=Where we hate Chuck Noll for going 1-13 his first season, 5-9 his second and 6-8 his third. Oh yeah, he didn't get fired, that's why.

by The New Kardiac Kids on Jan 4, 2012 9:51 AM EST up reply actions

I love Benard by the way. Really hoping he can come back big next season.

2010 Official DBN League Fantasy Football Champion

by TheDriveStillHurts on Jan 4, 2012 6:46 PM EST up reply actions

no he traded the pick to the jets to get him

by SocalClevFan on Jan 4, 2012 2:57 PM EST up reply actions

And the Jets with Sanchez is bad for us why?

DBN, where I will never understand why they fired Mangini. We went 4-12.

by The New Kardiac Kids on Jan 4, 2012 5:33 PM EST up reply actions

Draft Mangini!!!

"A drug person can learn to cope with things like seeing their dead grandmother crawling up their leg with a knife in her teeth. But no one should be asked to handle this trip." Thompson

by LocalMan on Jan 4, 2012 10:42 AM EST up reply actions

It is so much better now that we are battling with Shurmur! Yay!

Brownsyup

by Brownsyup on Jan 4, 2012 10:58 AM EST up reply actions

This is some seriously funny stuff

by HenryDawg on Jan 4, 2012 3:23 PM EST up reply actions

I went to rec it only to discover that I already had.

Clemson Tigers 2011 ACC Champions!
"That's why Carolina's in Chapel Hill and USC's in California and the University in this state always has been and always will be Clemson . . . You can print that, tweet that, whatever." -Dabo Swinney

by emily522 on Jan 4, 2012 4:59 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs

Loving this satire, btw.

"Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital." - Aaron Levenstein

by rufio on Jan 5, 2012 12:59 AM EST up reply actions

Did they count Andy Reid challenging a ruled score?

by macdowellm03 on Jan 4, 2012 1:38 AM EST via Android app reply actions

The best thing about the Lions’ overturned rate is that one of them might have been Schwartz challenging a scoring play—a play that should have gone in his favor—after making fun of Harbaugh for doing the game thing and starting BackSlapGate 2011.

"Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital." - Aaron Levenstein

by rufio on Jan 4, 2012 4:08 AM EST reply actions