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Conclusion could've been negotiated

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The following is the transcript of Tuesday's question and answer session between Vic Ketchman and Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver.

Vic: Wayne, what are your thoughts on the bottle-throwing incident in Cleveland?
Wayne:I thought it was ugly and disgraceful that we would have that kind of behavior in one of our stadiums. You just can't condone that. Hopefully, the league will take some appropriate action. The Cleveland Browns have come out and said they are going to try and identify as many people as they can who were involved in the incident and revoke their season tickets. You have to send a strong message that this kind of behavior won't be condoned. I understand there was a smaller incident last night in New Orleans and the security people were on top of it immediately and cut that off.

Vic:Is this a major issue in the NFL right now?
Wayne: I think it's something that is certainly going to be addressed. It could become accepted behavior.

Vic: Should the game have been completed.
Wayne:Obviously, I felt we should not go back. Once I found out they were letting fans back into the stadium; the only reason a fan would come back into the stadium would be for a rowdy purpose. I felt that once they were letting fans back into the stadium, we should not have brought our players back out onto the field. I just think there was some confusion. When I spoke to the commissioner (Monday) morning, he clearly said he did not order the players back onto the field. They had to follow the proper protocol and the rules say the referee should have suspended the game, got the players off the field and the designees from each club should have met in conference with the commissioner or his designee to determine what action should be taken after that. It was a lot of confusion there. It just didn't get executed in the right way.

Vic: But the commissioner wanted the 48 seconds expired?
Wayne: I think what the commissioner said to me is that had we all huddled and followed the right procedure we may have very well suspended the game or canceled the game at that point. The interpretation of what the commissioner said was that you've got to finish the 48 seconds. It was the wrong interpretation.

Vic:You could have finished in the tunnel by negotiating an end to the game?
Wayne:Yes; we could have had ownership from both clubs, or an ownership designee from both clubs, conferencing with the commissioner's office or his designee to decide if it was safe to put the player back on the field and if it was determined that it was not, we could have canceled the game.

Vic: Will you re-visit your policy on selling beer in bottles?
Wayne: I don't think so. I think we should be careful and not have a knee-jerk reaction here. We haven't had any incidents here, in spite of some of the remarks that were made. We've had some very close and controversial calls right at the end of the game that affected the outcome of the game and we haven't any kind of demonstration like that (in Jacksonville). So, no, I don't think we should have a knee-jerk reaction. I think it's something we have to watch around the league.

Vic: Carmen Policy said the same thing would happen here in Jacksonville. Does that offend you?
Wayne: I just think it was not a well thought-out statement. I thought it was a ridiculous statement. Carmen is normally more thoughtful than that.

Vic: He retracted somewhat yesterday in a veiled apology. What are your thoughts on his apology?
Wayne: I don't want to get into any of that, Vic. Carmen and Al (Lerner) both realized the behavior got out of hand and they came out and did apologize for it and I'll leave it at that.

Vic: Did the replay process work Sunday?
Wayne: I think so. I think it has to be executed better. I thought the judge in the replay booth had buzzed down prior to the play starting. It seemed to be some confusion on the field with the officials, that they didn't react fast enough to stop the play. I know it was a hurry-up offense and they didn't have a lot of time but when you get the buzzer you have to blow the whistle.

Vic: You remain in favor of replay?
Wayne: Yes; it's not a perfect system. There is no such thing as a perfect system. That would have been an atrocious call had it not gotten reversed.

Vic: Will replay survive this offseason?
Wayne: I think so.

Vic: What improvements have to be made?
Wayne: I'm not sure you can improve it. You are always going to have things that are inconclusive in replay because it is not a perfect system. You hope calls get made like this because if you didn't have replay it could affect the outcome of the game.

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