Bill Belichick demands a rule change from the NFL. According to the head coach of the New England Patriots, teams should be allowed to review any play by video. The background to his statement is a controversial referee decision in the Minnesota Vikings v Buffalo Bills game.

Munich – Bill Belichick demands more rule freedom for coaches in the league. The background is a recent much-discussed referee decision.

“I’m not in favour of coaches getting more challenges. But I am in favour of being allowed to review individual plays,” said the head coach of the New England Patriots on the “Greg Hill Show”.

The background to the statement was the incorrectly given catch by Gabe Davis in the overtime game between the Buffalo Bills and the Minnesota Vikings.

Bill Belichick wants to be able to review more than just game-changing scenes

Addressing the hotly debated scene, Belichick said, “In that critical situation on the catch by [Davis] on the sideline, that play could have been reviewed by the officials because it was less than two minutes. Either they made a conscious decision not to or they didn’t notice. However they want to describe it.”

“To me, that would be an example of a play where the team should have the opportunity to review it. If, they want to do that and still have a challenge left,” Belichick continued. “There are other examples of that. Games where situations have occurred that teams couldn’t review because it was within the last two minutes of a game. Or because the rules prohibited challenging those plays.

In principle, the rules are clear and unambiguous, which he does not criticise, says the 72-year-old. But: “I mean that I am not in a position to have a play reviewed that could influence the result of a game. Even calls like holding, pass interference and things like that – I don’t understand why plays like that can’t be reviewed. But again, it’s not my call. It is what it is. “

Bill Belichick: Teams should be allowed to review every play

Despite this, Belichick expresses a wish in the direction of league officials. If the Patriots head coach has his way, teams should be allowed to throw the challenge flag on more than just supposedly important plays.

“I think that if a team still has a challenge, they should be allowed to review any play,” Belichick said.

Because each team is only entitled to two challenges in a game, the league’s coaches usually wait for key controversial moments within the game before exercising their challenge.