Officiating video: Ejection from the home office, late slide, and roughing the passer

This week’s officiating tape to the media has senior vice president of officiating Al Riveron covering a lot of the usual subjects.

• Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton was hit as he slid to the turf, which kills the play by rule. Since he slid so late, he doesn’t get protection from being hit by a defender, as long as it doesn’t violate the use of the helmet rules.
• Legal contact to the passer is explained with clarity over which protections for the passer are lost when he scrambles and how he regains some of those protections.
• Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones was flagged for unnecessary roughness. Riveron explains the process on how the replay command center can make a call on an ejection. This is the first ejection we have on record that was assessed by replay, and perhaps the first one not assessed by the officiating crew, not including team imposed “ejections.”
• The process of the catch on a touchdown by Eagles running back Wendell Smallwood had a few key elements that allowed the touchdown to stand in replay. Under the 2018 rules, not a catch since the ground element is not part of the catch-process rule.
• Helmet hits include a nonfoul for head contact because both the runner and the defender turned their heads. Both players were attempting to avoid contact, not initiate it.
• The new kickoff rules are presented with an onside kick example.