Quote:Microchip laser technology is coming someday, and it is needed.


However, with the type of play that happened yesterday, how does the chip/laser technology prove that Ivory still had control of the ball there? Technology would only confirm the ball crossed the plane, even if Ivory wasn't controlling it at that point.


It looked to me like it was a controlled TD crossing the plane. The incontrovertible issue was the difficult part.

 

Quote:There would also be a sensor in the ball to clarify its relationship to Ivory's hand, I guess.

 

Microchips could work well to prove any of that. The design of the chip would just need to be elongated along the long axis (length) of the football. In that case, it would not be hard to put a speedometer, accelerometer, and gyroscope within the sensor to determine it's speed, if it is speeding up in a direction and what direction, as well as if it moving straight or spinning.  Now that level of sophisticated analysis may beyond most NFL referees, but isn't that purpose of having the league office look at replays. They could easily have the expertise to analyze that data.

 

To make things easier may be to include some sort of similar microchip in players gloves. That way if the speed and direction of the ball and glove match, you could reasonably say they still have possession. If tested and vetted enough, that may even make it easier to determine possession on catches also( instead of the ridiculous way we do it now) and fumble vs incomplete passes on sacks/QB hits.  

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