Roger Goodell on spotting the ball: I think that technology will exist in the future

Just days after an NFL executive claimed that technology can’t be used to spot the ball, Commissioner Roger Goodell said that some day, it will.

Asked about controversial spots including the fourth down attempt by Bills quarterback Josh Allen in the AFC Championship Game, Goodell said that right now there are limitations on how much technology can do and that technological advances aren’t as useful in football as in other sports for a variety of reasons, including the shape of the ball.

But Goodell then said he thinks that some day, the league will be able to implement enhanced technology to get calls right.

“I do think that technology will exist some time in the future,” Goodell said.

The question, then, is whether the NFL will just wait around and hope someone invents that technology, or whether the NFL will make a significant investment of its own in the necessary research and investment to improve its officiating. The NFL shouldn’t just be hoping for that technology to be developed. The NFL should be hiring the people and spending the money to develop that technology itself.