Dallas Cowboys' video board at new stadium is in punters' line of fire

The Dallas Cowboys were hoping to raise the roof Friday when they unveiled their new stadium.

Turns out, they might have to raise the video board, which is in the line of fire for punts. Or the league could be forced to examine its rules.

"It's something we're going to have to look at in the next week," Mike Pereira, the NFL's director of officiating, told The Times on Saturday. "We need to see if there's anything further we can do to make sure there's equity involved if it happens again."

The problem: In the third quarter of Friday night's exhibition game against Tennessee -- the first football game in Dallas' $1.2-billion palace -- a punt by the Titans' A.J. Trapasso struck the underside of the gigantic video screen, hanging 90 feet above the field and stretching from one 20-yard line to the other.

The ball bounced straight down and was ruled dead, meaning the down had to be replayed. And the plunking wasn't surprising, seeing as second-stringer Trapasso hit the video board at least three times during warmups, and starter Craig Hentrich nailed it a dozen more.

Afterward, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said he does not plan to move the board higher from the stadium floor (although reportedly it is being temporarily raised by 25 feet in October to accommodate the stage for a U2 concert).

"That's not the point," Jones told the Dallas Morning News after the game. "How high is high if somebody just wants to sit there and kick the ball straight up?"

But Titans Coach Jeff Fisher, co-chairman of the competition committee, said he considers it a problem, one complicated by the fact coaches will have to keep their red challenge flags at the ready because officials are watching for illegal blocks and not the arc of the ball.

"It's an issue, yeah," Fisher told reporters. "I'm sure the Cowboys or the league will tell you, I shouldn't have to throw the flag out there because [officials] didn't see the ball hit the scoreboard. Now, it's not necessarily their responsibility. Once a fair catch signal is given, then there are no eyes on the ball anymore. So they don't see it. So something has to get worked out. It can become a problem."

Pereira said it's entirely possible that a team trying to protect a lead could run time off the clock by intentionally punting the ball into the video board and getting a do-over. He said there is no rule for putting time back on the clock in that situation.