Calls
Coaches’ challenge sinks some top teams
Is the coach’s challenge system the advantage that separates the master tacticians from the also-rans? This season that is not the case: not only did only four playoff teams fare better than even, but three teams that beat the house fired their coaches. In fact, all but one of the teams earning a first-round bye are in the bottom five in red-flag success, with those teams combining in a 2-for-15 success rate.
The Ravens’ John Harbaugh saw a dozen calls he didn’t like, but he also had the most reversals (tied with four other coaches). Cowboys coach Jason Garrett followed up his 5-for-5 season in 2012 with an “oh-fer” on two replay challenges.
The percentage of overturns that are on reviews initiated by the replay official are shown about two-thirds down the list at 38%. Of course, there is no disadvantage for the replay official to be wrong (loss of timeout), nor is the replay booth limited in the number of challenges.
| Coach | Reversals | Challenges | Success % | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leslie Frazier | †| MIN | 1 | 1 |  1.000 |
| 2 | Andy Reid | * | KC | 7 | 8 | Â .875 |
| Joe Philbin | MIA | 7 | 8 | Â .875 | ||
| 4 | Chuck Pagano | * | IND | 6 | 7 | Â .857 |
| 5 | Jim Schwartz | †| DET | 4 | 5 |  .800 |
| Tom Coughlin | NYG | 4 | 5 | Â .800 | ||
| 7 | Marvin Lewis | * | CIN | 7 | 9 | Â .778 |
| 8 | Pete Carroll | * | SEA | 7 | 10 | Â .700 |
| 9 | Bruce Arians | AZ | 4 | 6 | Â .667 | |
| Mike Tomlin | PIT | 4 | 6 | Â .667 | ||
| Mike Smith | ATL | 2 | 3 | Â .667 | ||
| 12 | Marc Trestman | CHI | 3 | 5 | Â .600 | |
| Gary Kubiak/Wade Phillips | †| HOU | 3 | 5 |  .600 | |
| 14 | John Harbaugh | BAL | 7 | 12 | Â .583 | |
| 15 | Rob Chudzinski | †| CLE | 3 | 6 |  .500 |
| Chip Kelly | * | PHI | 3 | 6 | Â .500 | |
| Mike Shanahan | †| WAS | 3 | 6 |  .500 | |
| Sean Payton | * | NO | 2 | 4 | Â .500 | |
| Mike McCoy | * | SD | 2 | 4 | Â .500 | |
| 20 | Doug Marrone | BUF | 3 | 7 | Â .429 | |
| 21 | Mike McCarthy | * | GB | 2 | 5 | Â .400 |
| — | Replay Booth | NFL | 90 | 237 |  .380 | |
| 22 | Jeff Fisher | STL | 1 | 3 | Â .333 | |
| 23 | Gus Bradley | JAX | 2 | 7 | Â .286 | |
| Rex Ryan | NYJ | 2 | 7 | Â .286 | ||
| 25 | Jim Harbaugh | * | SF | 2 | 8 | Â .250 |
| Mike Munchak | †| TEN | 2 | 8 |  .250 | |
| Dennis Allen | OAK | 1 | 4 | Â .250 | ||
| 28 | Ron Rivera | * | CAR | 1 | 7 | Â .143 |
| John Fox | * | DEN | 1 | 7 | Â .143 | |
| 30 | Bill Belichick | * | NE | 0 | 1 | — |
| 31 | Jason Garrett | DAL | 0 | 2 | — | |
| Greg Schiano | †| TB | 0 | 2 | — | |
| — | Coach’s total | 96 | 184 |  .522 |
Totals including replay official: 186/421, .442. *- Qualified for 2013 playoffs. †No longer with team. Source: NFL game statistics, regular season only. Image: NFL coaches at the offseason owners meeting; Bill Belichick and Sean Payton are not pictured (NFL handout photo/Brian McCarthy).
