Sports fans consistently yearn for technology that removes mistakes from the game.
Robot umpires to call balls and strikes in baseball are usually at the top of the list. But there is also a smaller, quieter push for football to have a more scientific way to measure for first downs in football instead of trotting out the “chain gang” to determine if a team gained the required yardage.
That technology is supposed to arrive next season with the “Hawk-eye” system, comparable to what we see in soccer with VAR and tennis to determine whether a ball is hit in bounds or out of bounds.
That technology is being tested this preseason, and it debuted on Friday in the New York Giants-Detroit Lions game at MetLife Stadium.
It got off to a rocky start.
Following a Nate Sudfeld completion to wide receiver Tom Kennedy on a third-and-five in the second quarter, the Hawk-eye technology was utilized to determine if the Lions had reached the first down marker.
It took nearly three-and-a-half minutes until the ball was snapped for the next play, prompting former NFL quarterback Phil Simms to ask if they would still be willing to use this technology if it took that long.