NFL Vice President of Officiating Mike Pereira appeared on the NFL Network Sunday afternoon to discuss several of the rule changes NFL owners are discussing at this week’s meetings.

Among the proposed changes are tweaks or additions that would make illegal formations that allow multiple players to smear one return-team lineman on onside kicks, helmet-to-helmt blindside blocks away from the play, and shots to the head on wide receivers that are defenseless as they jump to catch the ball.

Also under consideration are changes that would fix two major gaffes that occurred in 2008. First, the league is considering allowing possession changes on plays such as the much-maligned call that helped cost San Diego a week two game against Denver when Jay Cutler dropped a ball that was originally rules incomplete but was then acknowledged to be a fumble.

Because whistles had blown, the refs could only award San Diego a nine yard sack instead of the ball, even though it was clear the Chargers would have recovered the ball and likely won the game.

The second officiating stumble came in the NFC Championship game between Philadelphia and Arizona when refs ruled a kickoff went out of bounds. Subsequent replays showed the ball bounced near the sideline but never crossed over, meaning the kicking team should have had the opportunity to recover the ball.

The proposed change would give referees the power to award the ball to the kicking team, even if a whistle occurred, if they decide the kicking team would have recovered the ball.

These changes are all fine and good. I understand protecting the safety of the players and I think it’s appropriate to use the replay technology to further fix mistakes when it’s possible. Nonetheless, I think in making these changes the league is failing to address the larger issue.

Far, far too often in 2008 and in recent seasons it’s become obvious that officiating crews are becoming too reliant on instant replay to make the calls for them. This was never more evident than in the Super Bowl when several times, officials huddled up to discuss the just-ended play only to end up making the call in such a way that it was reviewable – even in some cases doing so when the correct calls should have been blatantly obvious.

The Super Bowl was just one example. How many times have we watched plays on television where ball carriers have clearly been down by contact or where quarterbacks’ arms have clearly been going forward only to have officials miss those calls or, apparently, rule them in such a way as to allow replay to fix it when they are out of position and unable to see what happened for themselves.

I understand that watching on television and watching on the field are two completely different experiences. Things happen quickly and nobody is going to catch everything.

But I do think there is evidence that officials are running scared. Perhaps they are afraid of being in the position Ed Hochuli was in when he missed the Denver/San Diego fumble. Perhaps it’s intimidating knowing that any call they make can be reviewed by replay and show their call to be in error.

Or perhaps the game has gotten so fast that part-time officials are no longer capable of calling the games to the level they should be officiated.

Instant replay is a fantastic tool and technology is only getting better. It should be used to fix mistakes when they happen. But referees should not be using instant replay as a crutch when they can’t see what happened in real time. Tim Tschida, the 20-plus year Major League Baseball umpire, said it best during an interview on KFAN-AM radio this afternoon while discussing instant replay in the Major Leagues.

“What is the incentive to try to be good if you can just lean on technology,” he said.

The NFL is a great league in many ways. But despite the reports that come out of the league office every week stating what wonderful jobs its officiating crews did once again, I continue to believe this is a growing problem that will slowly erode people’s confidence in the outcome of games.

And once people doubt the credibility of a league’s games, it’s going to be hard to get it back.