NFL head of officiating: We’ve got to keep coaches off the field

Ever since Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin interfered with Baltimore Ravens kick returner Jacoby Jones on Thanksgiving night, the issue of NFL head coaches making their way onto the field has been a big topic of discussion.

Last weekend, we saw officials flag San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh for running onto the field and now the league has distrubited a video to the media where NFL head of officiating Dean Blandino says the refs did the right thing and that they will try to enforce the rule even more moving forward.

“We’ve got to make sure that coaches can’t come on the field after the play, during the play like this to get the attention of an official,” Blandino said. “They’ve got to stay on the sideline. So we penalized him 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct.

“An unsportsmanlike conduct foul like this, even if the coach is flagged during the play, for being on the field during the play, that foul is enforced as a dead-ball foul. So unless he actually interfered with the play — you could potentially have a palpably unfair act, the referee could award a score, take away a score, do whatever he feels equitable — but if that foul is just a normal unsportsmanlike conduct for being on the field, and he didn’t interfere with the play, that foul is always enforced as a dead-ball foul. Whatever happened on the play counts, and then the 15-yard penalty is enforced afterward.”

After Tomlin was fined heavily for his misstep and the Steelers were fined a draft pick, you would expect that head coaches around the league would get the message.

Now that the NFL has released a video that they will be enforcing the rule even more, it would be hard for anyone patrolling the sidelines not to take notice.