In the face of fan outcry and media suggestions that its credibility is threatened, the National Football League said Monday it is considering using instant replay for this season's playoffs.
The league gave no details about implementation, but ESPN reported that Commissioner Paul Tagliabue will canvass NFL owners in a conference call next week. Twenty-four of the league's 31 owners -- which includes the expansion Cleveland Browns -- must approve the idea.
At least two games in the past two weeks have been decided by blown calls, the most blatant coming Sunday when the New York Jets were awarded a touchdown although the ball clearly did not cross the goal line. The Jets beat Seattle by one point.
Online polls conducted during Sunday's televised games showed that 90 percent of the fans want to see instant replay restored. One fan in the San Francisco Bay Area has started an online grass-roots campaign, gathering signatures on his Web site.
The NFL's public pummeling may have reached its zenith this week, however, when The New York Times spent several column inches of space on its editorial page calling for the resurrection of instant replay.
The league used replay between 1986 and 1991, but the cumbersome process then in place was blamed for long delays in games. It has been widely reported that if instant replay returns for the playoffs, it will be similar to the system used in the preseason, where each team is allowed two challenges per game.
