Comprehensive lists of playoff officials can be found at Football Zebras.
Wild Card Weekend
Bengals @ Texans: Alberto Riveron
Colts @ Ravens: Mike Carey
Vikings @ Packers: Scott Green
Seahawks @ Redskins: Pete Morelli
Divisional Playoffs
Ravens @ Broncos: Bill Vinovich
Texans @ Patriots: Tony Corrente
Seahawks @ Falcons: Walt Coleman
Packers @ 49ers: Jerome Boger
Conference Championships
Ravens @ Patriots: Bill Leavy
49ers @ Falcons: Terry McAulay
Pro Bowl: Ed Hochuli
Super Bowl: Jerome Boger
SB Crew Picks:
Hochuli, Hannah, Mello, Boston, Horton, Banks, D. Paganelli with ALTS Cheffers, Stritesky, Podraza, Anderson, Dyer
Michael Banks is injured and has not worked since week 12 so I doubt he will work the playoffs.
I saw many of Ed’s games and he was not good especially the ones he did nationally. Well, the NFL assigns playoffs games according to the crews performances. I hope they are not drinking the Ed’s kool-kool aid at the expense of more deserving refs.
Cheffers? That’d be surprising and undeserving in my opinion. I think he did a horrible job yesterday and am not impressed with him in the majority of the games I’ve seen him work.
Alternates aren’t the highest ranked officials.
Super Bowl alternates though are often high ranking vets who have never had an opportunity to work on field in Super Bowl or young up and comers (Alberto Riveron was a Conference Championship official last year and Super Bowl alternate)
Understood, I don’t think he’s performed well enough for even an alternate in the Super Bowl. An alternate in another round, sure.
I agree, Cheffers was horrible in Giants – Ravens game
Hochuli is definitely the SB head ref?
Yes I agree Rich, but the nfl has screwed him out of SB head ref to many times. They will probably do it again. Ed doesnot have agame this weekend!
Dudes got the Pro Bowl, Has Guns ever done a Pro Bowl Nita?
I know millions of you will disagree but I heard that don’t be surprised if Boger’s name floats around.
Not ready in my book.
It seems like the officials have already been penciled in barring something weird happening in Week 17 and some playoff regulars are rightfully not happy
Craig I have read that BOger will be te SB official.
Yeah- Peter King of SI reported that unless Boger goofs up his playoff assignment, he’s got the SB…King also says Gene Steratore and Ed Hochuli won’t get post-season games.
Here’s the link- it’s on page 5
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nfl/news/20121231/peter-king-mmqb-week-17/index.html
Any chance Gene Steratore gets the Superbowl pick? Or Tony Corrente (though, he mind not even be considered because of his public cursing)
Jerome Boger to be the Reff of the Super Bowl
My guess for the Super Bowl is a well deserved Gene Steratore !!!
i’m with you david
Gene Steratore is horrible!!!!
I can’t confirm this, but I heard they are not assigning Playoffs by Crews anymore… supposedly the top 11 Officials at each position will work like it used to be about 10 years ago… However, it’s the top 11 per Ray Anderson… so he will put in who he likes no matter how bad/good they are.
Hearing this too…. I think Ray Anderson is being vindictive and since the NFL Officials did not play into his hands at the beginning of the season…. he is denying the good ones a playoff assignment. Ray Anderson and the Prez of officiating should be given their walking papers… if this is going to happen…
This is like saying to an NFL Team that is 16-0 record.. toooo bad your not going to the playoffs…
Sounds like Hochuki is being punished for speaking in favor of union. Likely same penalty for Scott Green. Boger does not deserve SB or any post season assignment. Neither does Cheffers.
Who do you think will ref the Pro Bowl?
TAKE NOTE:::::::: My Sources say…..
Confirmed ……………………….. Jerome Boger SB Referee
Ed Hochuli is OUT of playoffs….
I thought April Fools Day was on April 1st ???
I thought soooo too David..
Becky I hate to say this but Ed Hochuli didn’t look as good this year as in past years so I am not surprised to see him miss the playoffs. Jerome Boger on the other hand…
Still, playoffs with Steratore or Hochuli IMO is criminal.
Correction: Playoffs WITHOUT Steratore or Hochuli IMO is CRIMINAL.
This is true BUT, like I said they have screwed Ed out of SB many times.They pick who they want not who is the best. I know this for a fact that several times the sb ref was not the top ref in the league for that year…..Markbreit should have been the ref the last year he was in b4 he retired and they screwed him and let Kukar have it. I am stopping now bcause I will way things I shouldn’t cause I know more……
Yes Nita…. I feel Ray Anderson in the Officiating Front office is being vindictive, becauase Ed Hochuli stood up to him and the Management team. Due to the fact that the Zebras did not accept their 1st contract offer….. Now he is denying Hochuli an assignment. This is soooooo Wrong…
This whole situation sucks and it takes the spark out of the rest of the football year. Maybe Ed didn’t deserve the superbowl this year but he damn sure deserved an assignment.
I agree Nita….. Ed Hochuli deserved an assignment
Hochuli blew any chance for post-season work with his atrocious performance on the Sunday night game in Foxboro between the 49ers and Patriots. He was absolutely brutal in that game. He makes everything about him, by talking as much as he possibly can.
Boger is a pro. Says what needs to be said quickly and efficiently, and doesn’t stumble over his words.
from Peter King of SI:
I think, and this would be an upset for you referee-philes out there, that Jerome Boger is the clubhouse favorite to ref the Super Bowl. Why Boger? A source tells me Boger has the best grade of any ref after the regular season, and under the playoff officiating rules, Boger would have to really mess up his playoff assignment to not get the Super Bowl. I’m also told it’s unlikely two of the best refs out there, Gene Steratore and Ed Hochuli, will get playoff assignments.
Your right Bob, Gene is certainly one of the best, Ed on the other hand had a tough year
Is the the first Pro Bowl Ed Hochuli has officated at?
Yes, because every year he was eligible for a playoff assignment since 1991, he has had a playoff assignment, except for 2006.
Super Bowl 47 Picks Jerome Boger Paul King Julian Mapp Byron Boston Borris Cheek Rick Patterson Greg Steed with Alternates Gene Steratore Wayne Mackie Bill Leavy Tony Corrente
God I hope not as Cheek was by far the worst FJ I saw this year and that is not just my opinion but that of many other knowledgable fans of officials
Julian Mapp is only in his 4th year, I thought you need at least 5 years in your position to qualify for the SB.
No not unless they changed it. You use to be able to be eligible for the super bowl in your 2nd year of officiating, but that was back in the dark ages…….
FYI, since it’s not specifically spelled out in the thread, and the question will inevitably pop up:
Super Bowl officials (all except R) need 5 years seniority and a conference championship in a prior year. An official can swap in 3 playoff assignments in 5 years for the conference championship requirement.
For the referee, he must also have the 5 years/conference championship. There is no 3-of-5 substitution permitted. Also, he must have at least one playoff game as a referee and must have been a referee for 3 years.
Actually the 3 of 5 is permitted for Referee but has never been used because of the realistic position that a Top 3 Referee is likely to have been in the Top 3 before at either Referee or another position. The issue is Jerome Boger meets neither of these criteria
FWIW, the communication department to me that 3-of-5 is not for the white hat. But, the officiating department might not agree. And, the officiating department might have now secretly made it 3-of-6.
I’m not questioning Boger’s abilities — don’t remember any blatant bad calls/controversy from him — but why is his name at the Super Bowl forefront?
Excellent article from our friends at footballzebras.com
http://www.footballzebras.com/2012/12/30/6035/
What a crock of you know what. Steratore is worthy if at least a conference championship. I am so disappointed in this announcement.
Chris you are right, it is a crock of hot air. I know you ddn’t say it that exact way, but it means the same thig.
Yea I better not say what I really think or I will be banned from getting on the internet at all….
This all seems pretty speculative at this point… Although some of the people reporting this “new” system are usually highly reliable. Let’s just hope the politics doesn’t trump what should determine playoff assignments: On field performance.
I don’t think that it is too late to change, but time is running out. It is unclear how final the assignments are (and I know of only that handful as of now), but maybe if enough of a stink is made, they will re-evaluate.
Of course, they didn’t re-evaluate with the replacement officials.
Same source that reported Boger as the Referee is reporting that Darrell Jenkins is the Umpire (so he goes from being left off a crew that ranked in the Top 8 to Super Bowl, gotta roll my eyes at that)
From my limited view I did not see and or heard of Boger having a bad game or some gross mis-calls. I can’t say that about Ed. And Ed’s verbal confabulation is getting a little tedious, and which does not qualify you as having a good season. I know Ed’s fan is already blaming the NFL, sorry, he did not have a good year.
at least he lets people know why something was called?
My evaluation had Hochuli not having a Hochuli year, which is still somewhere in the top 11. Boger, on the other hand, was incrementally better than a Boger year which is still not in the top 11.
from Peter King of SI:
I think, and this would be an upset for you referee-philes out there, that Jerome Boger is the clubhouse favorite to ref the Super Bowl. Why Boger? A source tells me Boger has the best grade of any ref after the regular season, and under the playoff officiating rules, Boger would have to really mess up his playoff assignment to not get the Super Bowl. I’m also told it’s unlikely two of the best refs out there, Gene Steratore and Ed Hochuli, will get playoff assignments.
Hochuli had a bad year as a WH. Did Boger have a nationally televised game this year? I don’t remember seeing him.
I’ve seen Steratore a few times this year and it seemed like he had a pretty good year so I’m surprised to see him not get a playoff assignment. He did a good job on the initial Thursday night with little warm up. Cheffers had a couple of rough games, the Giants-Ravens game most notably.
Still, the WHs today are nowhere near as good as Markbreit… Cashion… Dreith… or Tunney
As an aside, have any of you read Mike Perreira’s latest comments regarding the “tuck rule” and that it should be eliminated? I agree with him, it’s a bad rule, but it’s surprising to see him comment given how much he defended it (he mentioned this in the piece) when he was head of the officials.
Boger had the Packers Vs Texans Week 6 game in the Sunday nighter.
He also worked Giants/Redskins primetime game
Amen to Markbreit, Cashion, Dreith. Add Norm Schackter, but dro Tunney. His blown field goal call as FJ in Cokts – Packers playoff game ranks as the worst call in NF L history. They added a second official to the calls and raised the goal posts the following season.
Len–
Good catch on Schachter, who did Super Bowls I, V, and X and the Ice Bowl. Tunney did miss the field goal in the infamous Tom Matte Balt-GB playoff game, that also brought about the taller goalposts, called the “Baltimore extensions.” Tunney is still the only WH to do back to back Super Bowls, XI and XII. Not sure, but Hochuli’s call in Denver may be the worst call in NFL history.
They didn’t change any rules or mechanics after Hochuli’s miss
That’s part of my point on the 1965 playoff game and Tunney, that was partially an issue of mechanics. Schacter was the WH for that game too. Did they not move the referee to behind the kicker after that? I now have to look to when they moved the referee back to where he is currently.
SO TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
RIGHT ON FRIEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Exactly…Gene Tunney was the dean of NFL refs and the best of all time. Jerry Markbreit was outstanding and I loved it when he was calling a game.
Scott Green certainly deserves the Super Bowl after a good year along with his head linesman Tom Stabile who reffed last years super bowl
I thought Green’s crew was one of the worst in the league this year.
Green had a better year than hochuli and boger
Bogers crew was absolutely horrible during the Giants at Redskins Monday Night Game. Al Riveron should have the Super bowl his crew was probably the best this year.
A tweet from former official Jim Daopoulos
McAulay for Super Bowl, Steratore and Hochuli in Championship with Perry and Leavy close behind but even Morelli needs to be in the mix!
Those were Jim’s picks from December 30. Don’t know if that is before or after the leak of Boger for the SB.
My guess for the Superbowl will be John Parry again
John Parry? lol He won’t get back to back SBs.
And what a horrible call in Sunday’s SD-OAK game. Ejecting Goodson and Spikes was uncalled for. A terrible decision which really irks me.
Robert the last I knew a referee could not officiate two SB’s in a row.
Don’t worry about who doing the superbowl. who’s doing tne games this weekend?
Who is doing the Indiapolis/Baltimore Game?..God i hope its not Alberto Riveron…hes terrible..
rated one of the best year after year, you might not like it but AFC championship game last year and will get a playoff game this year.
Riveron is one of the top officials. As a Ravens fan, I am fine with him doing the game this weekend. I once held Gene Steratore and Carl Cheffers in high regard but they have not been as good over the past 12-15 months. Believe it or not, I think Mike Carey and Jerome do fairly good as referee.
Gene Steratore has not been in good for longer than that, if ever.
It’s a long shot, but IF they are doing assignments by position and not crew, I think Bill Vinovich should get a Wild Card or Divisional assignment. He was consistent all year in a fill in role and earned it (IMO) in his first year back
The position-by-position assignment system, rather than crew placements, is definite. It was a part of the CBA.
Yes we need to find out who is doing the wildcard games.
Boger would be a curious choice for the Super Bowl, if those rumors are indeed true. Although, I only saw him in one game this year, which was the Giants/Skins MNF game. But I thought he and his crew had a very shaky game that night. My choice for the Super Bowl would be Terry McAulay or Mike Carey.
Boger going to be in Houston this weekend
Cannot confirm this but I think Scott Green is one of the Referee’s this weekend??
Scott Green in Green Bay
Al Riveron in Houston
Mike Carey in Baltimore
Pete Morelli in Washington
Via @RefereeJimD – Scott Green in Green Bay, Al Riveron in Houston, Mike Carey in Baltimore, Pete Morelli in Washington.
FWIW a tweet from Jim Daopoulos from a moment ago has…
CIN-HOU – Riveron
MIN-GB – Green
IND-BAL – Carey
SEA-WSH – Morelli
I have seen a copy of the full crews… they have 3 alternates now
Mind posting full crews
Not yet… as these are pretty confidential… at least supposed to be
not necessarily working with their regular crews. John Parry and Gene Steratore are working as alternates!
Steratore as an alternate is a waste. Can he still get another playoff assignment?
Steratore should never get a playoff game
Full Wild Card crew list is posted: http://refs.ws/12wc
If it is Carey here in BAL, that sounds good to me. A no-nonsense type who worked Super Bowl XLII (the “helmet catch” game), as well as a wild-card game between BAL and KC a few years ago… He also threw Terrell Suggs out of a game in DET in 2005 when the Ravens committed 21 penalties. He said he thought Suggs was approaching him “with malice in his heart.” Those two just laugh about it now…
Carey will keep this game well under control !!!
CIN @ HOU
R 57 Alberto Riveron
U 11 Fred Bryan
HL 48 Jim Mello
LJ 108 Gary Arthur
FJ 33 Steve Zimmer
SJ 58 Jimmy DeBell
BJ 12 Greg Steed
MIN @ GB
R 19 Scott Green
U 102 Bruce Stritesky
HL 134 Ed Camp
LJ 32 Jeff Bergman
SJ 41 Boris Cheek
SJ 116 Mike Weatherford
BJ 93 Scott Helverson
IND @ BAL
R 94 Mike Carey
U 49 Rich Hall
HL 74 Derick Bowers
LJ 47 Tim Podraza
FJ 63 Jim Quirk
SJ 125 Laird Hayes
BJ 6 Kirk Dornan
SEA @ WAS
R 135 Pete Morelli
U 71 Ruben Fowler
HL 8 Dana McKenzie
LJ 9 Mark Perlman
FJ 89 Jon Lucivansky
SJ 97 Tom Hill
BJ 133 Steve Freeman
Whose Paul King?….lol and why is he alternate ref in GB?
These crews are different from what I expected.
Paul is a 4th year umpire having worked as an umpire the first 3 years with McAulay and this year with Riveron. He came to the NFL from the Big East as he worked the 2008 Rose Bowl game (USC vs Illinois). He is infamous for being the official to escort Ndamukong Suh off the field after his groin kick on TDAY last year in Detroit. Paul is the alternate backfield official for the Packers – Vikings wild card game Saturday night.
So, Blakeman, McAulay, Coleman, Anderson, and Vinovich (obviously) have no crew members with on field assignments this weekend. Does that make any difference for next week’s assignments?
Seeing that Anderson, Blakeman, Coleman and McAulay have no crew members working this week I would guess they are the refs for next week. I base this on the fact that each ref this week had 2 or 3 others from their crew with them. I would also guess that Leavy and Winter have the Conf. championship unless the rumors about Hochuli not working are not true.
Preth, is it confirmed that HL Dana McKenzie will be doing the Skins game. Even after McKenzie said Redskins player DeAngelo Hall threatened to kill him during an altercation during the Steelers game back early in the season. Where Hall claims McKezie called him the N bomb I am even going to say why did the NFL even assign this crew the Seahawks at Redskins game.
Yes, Mark.
Multiple reports are coming out that McKenzie has been pulled from this game due to the DeAngelo Hall issue.
From Twitter: @TarikCSN As others have reported, Dana McKenzie won’t work Redskins-Seahawks. Source tells me he’s in Baltimore this weekend.
http://www.footballzebras.com/ has the current assignments for the wild card weekend.
Indeed. Thanks, Thomas.
Rumored Super Bowl Crew:
Boger
Jenkins
Veteri
Symonette
Prioleau
Rose
D. Paganelli
ALTS: Corrente, Stritesky, Podraza, Edwards, Miles
If Symonette gets a Super Bowl assignment after trying to cover up an inadvertent whistle it will damage the credibility of the entire season
I have to believe that tongue was firmly planted in cheek. But this year, you just don’t know.
Might as well have kept the Scabs……… no thanks to the Officiating front office screwing up everything…. oh and the NFL too….. this is all a JOKE….
Wake me up from my bad dream….
As I said b4, don’t get me started. Guess I’ll see ya next year Becky!!!!!!!
Hi Nita… Yes Next YR… I still keep up with the Officials year around…. Thank you for your posts and info Nita……
NFL has denied the story.
i love Steratore as much as anyone, but unfortunatly he made a MAJOR review mistake that changed the result of the Baltimore vs. San Diego game. Those types of mistakes of mispotting a ball after a review are egregious and tend to be punished severely by the league office. We all know he is ready and one of the best but even he will tell you that mistake cost him a spot on the field (even though he will be an alternate)
He got that call right. The only issue was the amount of time it took to complete the process of the measurement, but ultimately the correct call was made.
uhhhhhh Ben unfortunately the league office did NOT think he got the call right… They thought the video evidence provided conclusively he was shy of the line to gain…. and certainly not almost a full yard ahead of where he spotted the ball.
tmac, you are the only one who loves Steratore, probably because the only calls he gets “right” are for your team.
“The line to gain was reached once we got the chains in place,” according to Dean Blandino who is the head of instant replay in the officiating department. Publicly, they are saying it was a correct call.
http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-network-around-the-league/0ap2000000102248/Official-Review-Texans-vs-Lions-controversial-TD
Dana McKenzie will not work the Redskins game because of the highly charged ejection of DeAngelo Hall, per Greg Aiello via Rich Tandler of CSN Washington.
Ben i do not want to start a war with you, but you are smart enough to know how politically correct Dean is on NFL network just as Carl was just as Mike was.. although Mike had a little more personality to his answers. If you think for a second that call hasn’t changed his playoff status I have some land for you i’d like to sell. I understand if you believe the rhetoric or the press releases like the NFL wants you to, BUT the bottom line is for reasons that the NFL won’t throw individual officials under the bus (for the most part).
I”ll give you another out…. Gene was outstanding this year… If you look at how the NFL punishes guys who make mistakes that change or can potentially change game outcomes what would your explanation be foe gene to not be on the playoff roster.
Gene has never been good
Not much was said when the crew addressed the chain crew the week after. Not the same crew, but any problems are usually brought up in the pre-game with the crew. All that was said, if we go back after a review be sure where we set up. The game in question was mentioned and was told the crew was correct, but looked bad. Most of the looks I think were from the TV Crew
I don’t know of any rumblings on the 4th-and-29, but, in spite of that, I did couch my statement with “publicly.”
If one call kills a playoff slot, then they will have no one officiating. Everyone gets a ding.
Clete Blakeman has had an outstanding year. That clock issue that hit his crew in SF was a biggie. It might affect his ranking, but I don’t think it would disqualify him.
Add in Tony Corrente’s cursing, Jeff Triplette’s controversial first game back, Walt Coleman’s Thanksgiving, Ed Hochuli’s “I didn’t review it because it’s not reviewable”, John Parry’s controversial ejections last week, Carl Cheffers’ inadvertent whistle cover-up, and Jerome Boger’s non-ejection because he “misspoke”, and you’ll see that half of the white hats are now excluded from the playoffs. With the possible exception of Tom Symonette’s inadvertent whistle cover-up, none of these will knock an official out of the playoffs.
And as far as a “war” … don’t mind being challenged. As long as everyone else can tolerate my rantings here, I don’t have any problem whatsoever.
Does anyone know if head linesman Tom stabile is going to be doing a playoff game?
No. He is an alternate for the Vikings-Packers game.
Why would he be an alternate when his ref is Scott, I know they switch people during playoffs but why wouldn’t they have him be the head linesman?
Stabile probably did not grade high enough among HL for a playoff assignment (as dubious as those grades appear this year, though there were some games where Stabile did not look like himself so I am not as surprised as others, like Boris Cheek rating high enough to receive an on-field assignment) but did rate high enough to be an Alternate and the league felt it would be better that if an Alternate had to come in that it was someone who has experience with other members of the crew. Note that this year every game has an alternate R/U, an alternate HL/LJ, and an alternate FJ/SJ/BJ
Do you mind telling me where you find this information out to who refs were before they put it on this page?
I don’t understand the question, Lud.
Perth, is there like a source that tells you where the refs are officiating every week? I hope I cleared it up for you
The visitors of this website collectively have a variety of different sources, yes.
One more question if you don’t mind, are you the one who runs this page?
Myself and one other, Mickey.
This Lud character is a joke. Preth you shouldn’t give no info to this clown!
Hey Rich K, I would like to know how I am a joke
Isn’t it possible sine they are assigning an alternate at three positions to every game that alternates could receive an assignment later in the postseason? Ben or Preth thoughts perhaps?
In the past, the alternates didn’t work in a later playoff game. However, since there’s a new officials’ CBA, I can’t completely rule it out. I’m not familiar with all the CBA’s changes.
If there are 11 playoff games with the SB that’s 77 officials and with 3 alternates per game, another 33. And how many officials total, 120?
Seems there will have to be some duplicates?
The Super Bowl officials can work or be an alternate to a Wild Card or a Divisional game. The Super Bowl alternates can work any of the 3 playoff games, but I don’t recall someone getting 2 alternates.
Also, the Super Bowl has 5 alternates. Plus, the Pro Bowl has a crew and no alternates. Pro Bowl assignments have no criteria, and sometimes can come at the request of the NFLRA.
That makes for 84 on-field officials and 35 alternates. That is 119, which is the exact number of officials you would have on 17 crews, not including the swing officials. With some Super Bowl officials getting 2 postseason assignments, that means as many as 12 could be excluded from the postseason.
Some are excluded due to injury. The alternates do not necessarily work in rank order. Therefore, a healthy official without an assignment is not necessarily ranked 17th at his position.
I have been biting my tongue and trying to keep quiet because I don’t have the experience that most of you do, but listening to all of the comments it really sounds like there are multiple standards sometimes. “Hochuli hasn’t been up to Hochuli standards” and “Boger has done better than usual” and etc. It seems that the guys who are ‘lucky’ enough to pull a national game will area also lucky enough to carry a heavier penalty for the mistake that will happen evenually. All I know is that if I were the head coach of a team going to the SB, the three guys I would most want to see wearing those WH’s are Steratore, Hochuli, or Carey. They might be perfect, but on any given day they are well above the others and I would trust them to run a clean game.
Different people, different opinions. That’s really all it comes down to.
I agree Nadine the level of officiating by the current roster is as high I have seen in a long time with more to manage then ever. Out of the 17 men I truly believe that 95% of them could do an excellent job based on overall performance this year. White hats make up 1/7 of a clean game, it would be great if this site had a little more focus on the other positions
I don’t disagree with you, Mike, but this website is about assignments in particular. It’s easiest to associate assignments by crews, using their leaders.
and the assignments get even more surprising based on latest reports from Football Zebras. Not surprised to see Keith Ferguson not get an on-field assignment. More surprised by the omission of Clete Blakeman, Tony Michalek, and Rob Vernatchi
Perth no slight intended to the site other then the chatter on officials. Great to understand the assignments but many of these remarks come without either an appreciation of officiated an actual game or the understanding that the “white hat” is only one phase of a clean and smooth game. This site is the best of its kind
The white hats take all the heat but they don’t throw all the flags. Triplette can’t help that his crew is for the most part terrible but he is the face of it so he always suffers. Sick of that!
Triplette did blow the fumble call in GB
Triplette is just not very good… not going to say anything else…
Just heard Hochuli had a less than good year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I concurred that Triplette’s crew sabotage him at times. I was a little hard on Ed, nevertheless, he and Carey are atop of their class. Ed receives his fair share of national games, and as a result, he is scrutinize more.
Becky, I know your not a Triplette fan but he’s not nearly as bad as what he seems at times. I have seen him question his guys before but he has to go by there “discretion” so yeah he looks even worse than it seems.
I thought the refs did a good job on Wildcard Saturday from what I saw anyways.
Texans Vs Pats R Walt Coleman U Roy Ellison HL Danna Mckenzie LJ Daryll Lewis FJ Terry Brown SJ Rick Patterson BJ Richard Reels
If that is true, I am surprised that Coleman even got a playoff spot let alone a divisional spot.
Just his guesses.
I doubt Dana has the game. He has Balt vs Ind today
Whose got packers vs 49ers this Saturday night
My guess is Bill Leavy or Tony Corrente
Based on rumored articles/reports for the possible Super Bowl crew, it appears the two out going employees from the league office that oversee officiating assignments are executing or trying to execute a private agenda. That is the only reasoning in my mind I can come up. I am not saying Boger is a bad referee/crew chief, but there are some recent playoff referee/crew chief who have paid their dues and deserve the Super Bowl before Boger.
Agree John…
I am an avid fan of NFL from Australia and watch the games when ever possible . While i still don’t understand all of the rules i enjoy the involvement of the referees and officials. For what its worth i think Gene Steratore is clearly the best i have seen and i hope he gets the Super Bowl.
Is he a chance ?
other then the clock mishap By Mike Carey in the 4th Q of the Ravens-indy game (which nobody has mentioned) where They originall called complete changed it to incomplete reviewed it and still let 15 seconds come off the clock…. I thought this might have been the best officiated wild card round that i can ever remember…..
Well done guys!!!
The clock was reset just before the snap if I recall correctly?
I thought all four crews did a good job this weekend. I especially liked the way that Pete Morelli and crew let the guys play in the Seahawks/Skins game, when it would have been very easy to turn that into a flag fest, with all the extracurricular stuff going on after the whistle.
Indeed, as a sort-of Seahawks fan watching that game, I was really pleased with the fairness of that game. Carey was fine in IND-BAL, except the only thing I noticed was that obvious face mask missed in the 1st quarter.
Morelli missed an obvious leg whip call during the third quarter against the Seahawks, also the holding call against the Redskins late in the game called on D-Hall was very questionable maybe you call it week 1 in the season but not in a playoff game, it was a very tight call.
I Would Love Jeff Tripplete For Baltimore And Denver, If Not Him, Then Tony Corrente,
HOU@ NE-Tony Corrente
Bal @ Denver-Bill Vinovich
GB @ SF-Jerome Boger
SEA @ Atl-Walt Coleman
BAL @ DEN
R 52 Bill Vinovich
U 96 Undrey Wash
HL 54 George Hayward
LJ 107 Ron Marinucci
FJ 25 Bob Waggoner
SJ 62 Ronald Torbert
BJ 2 Billy Smith
GB @ SF
R 23 Jerome Boger
U 76 Darrell Jenkins
HL 79 Kent Payne
LJ 84 Mark Steinkerchner
FJ 3 Scott Edwards
SJ 78 Greg Meyer
BJ 105 Dino Paganelli
SEA @ ATL
R 65 Walt Coleman
U 81 Roy Ellison
HL 28 Mark Hittner
LJ 18 Byron Boston
FJ 4 Craig Wrolstad
SJ 15 Rick Patterson
BJ 38 Greg Yette
HOU @ NE
R 99 Tony Corrente
U 53 Garth DeFelice
HL 22 Steve Stelljes
LJ 130 Darryll Lewis
FJ 20 Barry Anderson
SJ 73 Joe Larrew
BJ 119 Greg Wilson
I like the assignments. My thoughts:
1. Congrats to Vinovich for getting a divisional assignment after several years off the field.
2. Coleman was in Atlanta for Week 4 – a Falcons win against Carolina. He did not officiate a game involving Seattle.
3. Not a fan that Wrolstad is from Seattle and is doing the Seahawks playoff game.
4. Corrente was in Houston Week 7 against Baltimore – a 43-13 win for the Texans. He also did the Texans in Week 13 against Tennessee – a 24-10 win for Houston. No games involving New England.
5. Boger gets the primetime game and arguably the most intriguing matchup of the weekend. He was in San Francisco Week 5 against Buffalo – a 45-3 win for the 49ers. He officiated the Green Bay game in Houston Week 6 – a 42-24 win for the Packers.
6. Vinovich had the Ravens in Week 9 against Cleveland – a 25-15 win for the Ravens. He did not have a game involving the Broncos.
7. Predictions for the NFC Championship? I think McAulay and Anderson.
Anderson is an alternate this weekend. I am guessing McAulay and Leavy for Conference Championship
Corrente has not worked a regular season game in New England since 2005. I am uncertain if he has worked any playoff games there recently
@EDOGG
#6. Triplette had BAL-CLE, not Vinovich.
I saw it said the Boger will have the superbowl. He’s doing the game in Frisco. Does he get the Superbowl to, or does someone else get it?
The Super Bowl officials do generally work a game from one of the first two rounds.
Sorry if this question is a repeat: why only two members of Corrente’s crew working the New England/Houston game?
McGrath was an alternate last week
Bryan was the U with Riveron in Houston
The only other official on the crew is Gary Cavaletto who worked the Super Bowl last year and may have graded out as 2nd or 3rd best FJ so got a Conference Championship
No problem, Earl. This thread has a lot of information in it.
From 2003-2011 seasons, the Top 8 crews filled the first two rounds of the playoffs. The remaining 3 games were the top 3 officials at each position (mixed crews).
Because of a request by the union, the collective bargaining agreement has top officials by position assigned to the playoffs, regardless of crew. That ensures that a good official on a low-ranked crew gets in, and an underperforming crew member doesn’t ride coattails to a postseason assignment.
It appears the formula is to put a referee with two of his crewmates. If more qualify, then they are dispersed to other crews.
Congratulations to Vinovich for getting the Divisional assignment, especially given that he was working with different crews throughout the season.
Hope he does a good job with the Ravens-Broncos game on Saturday.
Ben was right, it was Triplette for BAL-CLE earlier this year… Vinovich hasn’t done a Ravens game since — can you believe this? — New Year’s Day of 2006! The last game of the ’05 season, which ironically was BAL-CLE, had Vinovich at the controls… hope he remembers what the Ravens’ helmets look like!… there were 17 penalties in that game, eight for BAL, nine for CLE…
No worries when it comes to Vinovich. He has been working with different crews since week 6 and still controls the game as if he was never gone.
Pro Bowl = Hochuli
Super Bowl = ???????
Pro Bowl #85 Hochuli
#40 Hannah
#26 Baltz
#90 Spanier
# 82 Horton
# Carlsen
#126 Carey
#83 Reels
Does this mean Clete Blakeman will be the alternate
For the SB? It seems to me that he is the only referee to not have an assignment (alternate or otherwise). He obviously isn’t eligible for the super bowl but I’d have a hard time believing he graded so low that he didn’t get an assignment at all ( I can believe this with cheffers who also doesn’t have an assignment)
At this time, we’re not expecting Blakeman to be the Super Bowl alternate.
Why is Steratore being omitted? He is the best White hat??????
Some of this year’s playoff assignments are a little surprising. But, something to keep in mind is that “best” is extremely subjective. Some people are like you and think Steratore is the best. Other referees are regularly mentioned.
Steratore is the worst white hat. His whole crew can’t get anything right.
John Parry is the biggest surprise to me. The guy is nearly flawless and it makes no sense why he is left out. Corrente sucks. Plain and simple. Coleman is horrible. Vinovich did a nice job but was a late edition to the season and had no crew. As much as I dislike McAulay, he did a nice job this year and does deserve the recognition. It’s time some of these guys pass the torch and call it a career in the NFL.
For whatever it’s worth, I can confirm that Coleman did have a pretty good year overall.
Vinovich came in 2 weeks after the lockout and had one bye week, so missed only 3 weekends. On the other hand, Steratore had 4 byes (2 crew + 2 individual). Also, having no crew is not a handicap, because playoffs are not assigned by crew.
Parry was a alt at Baltimore last week
i personally think its time for Walt Coleman to get a Superbowl and dont preach about his work and how bad it is to me 24 years and no superbowl 18 as a Ref and NEVER a superbowl that man has paid his dues now lets reward him he was good this year in the games i seen and observed him being mr white hat
I have to second Fred.
Where is Steratore????
Is it too much to hope that he will get the SB? No way the front office can be that smart…
I highly doubt this could be the case but maybe Steratore has basketball games to ref. That’s probably only a 20% but that’s my only explanation.
pervious seasons when NCAABB and NFL overlap for those 2 months or so he only works NCAA in the week, and his Fri-Sun are typically left open, unless, in one instance I recall, he was working in DETROIT for an NFL game, so Fri PM he had a game at MICHIGAN STATE
Oh ok. That was just my guess. Since I believe he should have a playoff game if not the Super Bowl.
I can’t believe that Bill Leavy consistently gets playoff assignments after the debacle at Super Bowl XL.
I have to agree on curious playoff assignments. Parry solid. Blakeman solid. Gene/Ed, solid. Boger? Green? Morelli?, who I thought had a bad year, I saw a bunch of complaints on here. The Titans/Colts game in Indy was the worst called Titans game of the year (with the regulars). Blown replay on Luck INT TD, 9-yard first down. I also agree on Coleman. He had a good year, very solid here and in every game I saw. Deserves the bid this time around. Enjoy following this site!
No way Jerome Boger doesn’t embarrass himself this week doing the 49er/Packers game. Boger struggles and this is a huge game. I will be impressed if there is not a officiating controversy after this game.
Did they find out who is doing the Super Bowl, and I certainly don’t think bill leafy deserves a conference championship game
Playoff assignments are not base on seniority and or passed performance. It is base on the whs work 2012 season. I saw a few of Boger’s games and he was solid. We hope theNFL use an objective system to grade the crews, now if the system determines that Boger had a great year, then so be it. No one is infallible. I like Carey, Ed, and Leavy and would enjoy watching them work every playoff game, but it is what it is. Also, Carey did an outstanding job in Baltimore.
It was only Jim D’s opinion that the CC’s were going to McAulay and Leavy, and I misunderstood. As such they’re removed from the list.
Preth,
Look at play-off assignments from a different perspective.
Are there any officials who have NEVER gotten a play-off assignment after the regular season? A little research is necessary. Thanks…
In terms of what? A single season? Their entire career?
So … there’s this (spoiler alert)
http://www.footballzebras.com/2013/01/11/6489/
As reliable as I can get without confirmation. It’s likely that the NFL will stick with these, barring an officiating meltdown this weekend.
Thanks, Ben.
First off WOW…what a game! This crew today however did bad. Vinovich himself wasn’t to suspect except a phantom holding call and maybe the tuck rule?? I just saw the three deep guys not throwing flags on DPI/OPI when they should have and throwing them when they should not have. To many long conversations during the game made it sooooo long and losing confidence in the crew. Hell of game but this “all star” crew crap needs to go
I totally agree with you Matt, also Jerome Boger is having an awful start to the game with his mic work as he announced a holding call on John Kuhn (#30) as #4.
In the new Collective Bargaining Agreement between the league and its officials, the early playoffs no longer use the “all star crews” of previous years.
Boger and his crew aren’t having a very good game so far. Boger picked up a flag he threw on an obvious face mask, they blew a pass interference call and they just missed an obvious hold on Ginn
Ironically, there was a missed holding call was on Manning’s last interception in overtime on #74, which would have been declined.
Vinovich got the fumble on Manning correct, the ball was back in for a moment and the tuck rule didn’t apply.
The biggest issue with the AFC game was the flow of the game, way too many conferences. Boger settled down after a slow start in the late game.
I agree with the fact that he should have been flagged for a hold there on the last pick….I’m a big Broncos fan and as an official I know im not one to put blame on officials, but trying to take an outside look at the AFC game this was not a playoff quality performance by anybody on that crew…cold or not we deserved a better crew
Mike Pereira wrote an interesting and accurate piece about the officiating in the Baltimore/Denver game.
To me the biggest mistake was the missed Defensive PI on Baltimore on the pick 6 in the first quarter.
Denver did not lose because of the officiating, just watch the last minute of regulation again and it’s not hard to see why.
agreed on that my friend!
I THINK I can confirm Boger as SB ref per the announcers of the game last night.
Coleman and crew were great today. Best crew of the weekend so far.
Being the best “crew” of the weekend so far was not difficult though if Coleman was like this all season we would be wanting him to officiate the Super Bowl
How do y’all like Pete Carroll trying to show up Line Judge Byron Boston (#18) when he said the word “timeout”, timeout was granted, went onto the field saying like “WTF”, when FOX cameras clearly showed that he said the word “timeout” and Mr. Boston correctly granted it. And even after that, the Atlanta kicker missed the field goad. Wow, I guess whether to ice the kicker or not ice the kicker can be a double edged sword. Just my feel on this last sequence of events. Any input is greatly appreciated.
Very interesting, I agree! And statistics show that icing the kicker doesn’t actually reduce the odds of making the kick.
I know in golf the second shot is a big advantage, so anytime you can do something twice all the better
There was no controversy that Seattle called time or that Bryant kicked the ball after the whistle was blown. But apparently kickers have been told not to take the so-called `practice ‘ kick. Pete Carroll asked the officials what the penalty was for that but the refs said there wasn’t any. Some people (Seahawk fans?) think it should have been `delay of game,’ but that could have led to a bigger controversy than the `Fail Mary’ play that ended the Green Bay-Seattle game.
Mike Pereira just Tweeted that McCaulay and Leavy will work next week.
Corrente and crew were off their game today. We can say the calls were judgment calls but it seemed that their judgment was off. Replay issues, ball spotting issue, phantom holding calls on critical 3rd down plays. Hard to think that the crew deserved to be there…
Steve Stellhes’s holding call late in the 4th quarter on third down basically decided the game. I thought the call was incorrect, as the ball has already hit the ground when the hold happened. It was a hold on Kareem Jackson, but I felt the hold had nothing to do with the play, he wasn’t going to catch it anyways.
any idea who has what game?
Any idea what game each ref has?
Looks like that is the coffin closer on Houston!!!!!
Maybe Corrente can change the score via replay.
My Guess Terry McAulay in New England and Bill Leavy in Atlanta
Leavy may be in New England, mostly due to him living in ‘Frisco, and being a retired firefighter from there, just my guess. The assignments shouldbe out soon.
Not to mention that late in the year Leavy worked a game in Atlanta (I believe it was the NYG@ATL game)
BTW McAULAY lives in Howard Co. Maryland and 20 minutes from M&T Bank Stadium , so it worked out perfect for everyone !!!
Rich K, No, Ed has never had a pro bowl, but in the passed years the ref that got the pro bowl was the lowest ref on the list. Meaning they scored the lowest of all 17 refs. I donot believe he belongs in Hawaii…
The Front office of Officiating being vindictive… Nita…. Booo on them.. Not right.
The Pro Bowl is not necessarily the lowest ranked of the referees. Last year Walt Coleman worked the Pro Bowl even though it was reported that he had merited strong consideration for a Conference Championship game. However, since neither Alberto Riveron nor Ed Hochuli were on crews that were in the Top 8 no Referees had to be replaced. At least for Referees the league tries to assign an official who has not worked it in a while amongst those who did not grade out high enough to merit an on-field playoff assignment
Anybody Know Who Has The NE/BAL Game?
Bill Leavy
MAybe ED should take advantage and use it as a vacation
Preth or someone who can answer this. Jerome Boger most likely being the white hat for SB, with him doing Pack/Niners game on Saturday , Is he allowed to ref SB if Niners advance?
Absolutely.
If Niners advance there wouldn’t be an alternate for SB to replace Boger?
There are always several alternates for the Super Bowl, but Boger wouldn’t be replaced just because the Niners participate.
Preth do u kno if this has happened before ?
That’s similar to saying that Boger would have to be replaced if the Falcons advance because he is from Atlanta.
Conference Championships are now confirmed for Leavy and McAulay.
McAulay is in Atlanta
Leavy is in New England
I’VE aways thought walt anderson was one of the best referres. Wonder why he didn’t a playoff assignment this year?
Who knows how the grading went this year…as noted above the calls in the NE/Hou game were not playoff worthy. I saw that the holding call was referenced above but the most egregious calls were the goal line play (not in) and the whistle on the fumble by Daniels. Bad calls.
Leavy it is… Ravens haven’t seen him since the 2011 PREseason opener, a boring 13-6 loss in Philly… it certainly doesn’t matter, naturally, but it’s been a while…
Falcons were 1-0 in games with McAulay (Oakland) this year, while McAulay did not have a game involving the 49ers. Notably, games where McAulay was the WH were decided by an average of 17.4 points (not close).
Patriots were 1-0 in games with Leavy (Buffalo) this year, while Leavy did not have a game involving the Ravens. Notably, games where Leavy was the WH were decided by an average of 12.1 points (also not close).
So, McAulay is the only one on his crew to receive a postseason on-field assignment? Wow.
LJ Mark Steinkerchner also received an on-field assignment
His line judge (Mark Steinkerchner) worked the Green Bay @ San Francisco last week. Every other crew had at least three officials work the playoffs.
Preth in the nfc championship between Atlanta and Minnesota in 1991 if Minnesota would have won Markbreit would have had the superbowl and if Atlanta won Kukar would’ve had it. He couldn’t have had the SB because he lived in the twin cities. He lucked out because Minn. lost.
I don’t know if that rule changed or not.
Ah, I didn’t know that. Perhaps we’ll learn of some clarification tomorrow, when the Super Bowl roster will supposedly be announced.
I only know this bcause Jerry Markbreit and his family are very good friends of mine.
Nita–
Jerry Markbreit is the one WH who would be really good in the booth explaining the rationale behind the call (better than Perreira or Austin). I’m not sure if he still works for the league or not, but it would be such a benefit to have him on one of the networks helping with officiating questions. He’s the best WH of all time.
I will never forget the line Al Michaels used on MNF when stating that Jerry Markbreit was reffing the game, “Well guys, we know this game is important because they have it in good hands.”
Paging CBS….
I know it was rare that a WH did a game either in or near his home town. I think it was a long time before Markbreit did a game in Chicago (and it was notable for an ejection). I did not realize MacCaley was from near Baltimore, I’m surprised he does as many Ravens games as he does, I think he even had a Pittsburgh game within the last couple of years.
Nita, that wasn’t 1991.
Sorry meant 1999.
If anyone remembers way back in ’86 when Da Bears played New England in the SB Red Cashion reffed the game. Jerry Markbreit couldn’t ’cause he lived in the Chicago area.
@AdamSchefter: Jerome Boger has been selected as the referee for Super Bowl XLVII.
Adam Schetfer is quoted on twitter – Jerome Bogar referee for Super Bowl 47
Despite having 8 downgrades which were ALL successfully appealed. Boger must have one hell of a rabbi among the current officiating brass for that to happen. Keep in mind that Tom Stabile, Super Bowl XLVI HL, had ZERO downgrades and that was before you start talking about appeals so he had a perfect season
Mike, Are you talking about this year that tom stabile had zero downgrades?
I’m not Mike but I can answer anyways. He is talking about last year when Stabile worked the Super Bowl. Stabile definitely had multiple downgrades this year seeing as he didn’t work a playoff game.
Thanks Russ. Yes I am talking about last year
Thanks Russ and Mike, big fan of Stabile
I realize that ranks are based only on the 2012 season. But do prior high-profile post-season gaffes ever factor in?
I expressed this poorly. There’s one ref who was ranked very highly for this season, and thus is eligible to work deep into the playoffs. This same one has had at least two horrid games in post-seasons past.
I guess past post-seasons don’t factor into these playoff assignments. But shouldn’t they? Why would the NFL want to risk another debacle?
You are obviously talking about Leavy. I disagree that past post season performances should play in because a new season is a new season. Those games are in the past one of them 7 years ago. If he rates high enough he should be on the field. And I believe Leavy had a good enough year, as usual, to warrant his assignment. Say what you will about him but he has only missed the playoffs once since 2003 and he was injured for some of that season. That is damn impressive.
Before we jump on Boger, let’s remember Super Bowl XLIV and the confusion and questions surrounding Scott Green. We all wondered why he was selected above Hochuli, Corrente, Walt Anderson, etc, but then he (and his crew) went out and a very solid game, free of (in my opinion) any errors or gaffes. Maybe the crew around Boger will be strong enough in this one game to make us forget he was chosen over the “elite” tier of officials (Steratore, McAulay, Hochuli). Just a thought.
In response to CHUS remark about Hochuli, why are you tearing apart how the officials make the call? Its more important how they officate the game. Besides alot of people have said they like how he explains it cause sometimes they don’t always understand why the call went that way. they all do a good job explaining, some explain better than others.
I feel this season, Ed Hochuli explained some calls incorrectly. Like the Eagles game at the end when there was intentional grounding, Ed said it was a illegal forward pass.
Tony Jia, are you an authority on rules. I would never 2nd guess some of the officials and Ed is one of them. If he said it you can believe it.
Thank u Nita!!!!!!
Why are you two so defensive about Ed Hochuli? I do not see you this way when people complain about Jeff Triplette. In addition to the games already mentioned I thought Ed Hochuli and his crew struggled noticeably in the Cleveland/Dallas game. I am at work so I do not have my notes in front of me. While there is a lot that leaves me scratching my head about this year’s playoff assignments, Ed Hochuli’s absence is not one of them. At best I thought he was borderline deserving of a spot with the switch away from crew assignments, but there were enough ranked similarly that I am not surprised by it. There were 3 Referees assigned this year that upon further review I thought were not deserving (Boger, Green, Leavy – and two were supposedly ranked in the Top 3 but that is a whole different story). Among those that did not receive an on-field assignment I thought Parry, Blakeman, Winter, Steratore, and Anderson were all borderline deserving or higher. That does not include Hochuli and as there were only 3 out of the 10 that I disagreed with at least 3 from my list of borderline or better would not get a spot
I never said I was an authority on rules Nita! Just watch the end of the eagles and redskins game and you will see what i’m talking about. Also watch the Patriots vs 49ers sunday night game, where Ed’s whole crew took about 8 minutes to sort a call and he also struggled with his long winded explanations.
Whatever!!!at least we know whats going on with ED and also I have heard alot of other officials being more explanatory for the REAL fans….
ENOUGH SAID
Again…. Thank you Nita…….
when some are that hooked on Ed they see no wrong in any assignment the certian person works Ed in my opinion doesnt even deserve pro bowl assignment but Nither Does Boger getting the superbowl but were only stating opinions here and If some cant handle harsh Ed comments thats on them asfar as this years superbowl Goodluck to all teams and everyone have a nice 2013 i will see u all in August unless i need to reply to my comments
Nita is a Hochuli stalker! lol
joethemailman, I resent being called that and I think you need to give me an apology. He is a friend of my families….
A decent performance today in the NFC Championship by the entire crew (missed pass interference call very early in the game). McAulay, however, presented his “normal” cocky, below-average performance. While I personally believe he is one of the better WHs in the game, when he gets in the spotlight, he comes across as extremely arrogant. The personal foul call for roughing the passer changed the entire makeup of the game (on 3rd and long) after the officials had obviously (as they should) let both teams play throughout the game. Disappointing, although expected from McAulay. He should go back to focusing on booking college football games.
i thought this was actually the best called game I can recall all season. I think that the DPI you refer too was in the middle of the field with the hand hooking the SF reciever’s waist? I too thought it was DPI, but on the replay it was perfectly times. As for the PF RTP call, it was a textbook call, correctly done, even if the rule is dumb.
Please the performance of the crew sucked on both sides. Especially when the right guard on San Francisco was moving every time before the snap of the ball.
Some call it arrogance, others call it confidence, presence, swagger, etc. To referee at that level, you have to have it. Heck, you could argue Steratore has an “arrogance” based on watching him make calls but I look at it as great confidence, presence, and a little personality/swagger. Nothing wrong with it. Of course you better be getting majority of the calls correct like these guys do.
Has anyone noticed (or know why) Bill Leavy’s shirt is missing the “R” on the back (a la the replacement refs)? I have noticed a few officials this year wearing shirts without the defining abbreviation (ie “FJ” “U” “BJ” etc) and was wondering if anyone had any idea why.
The number is, obviously, still there, but the letter above it is missing
Corey, you are right Chad Brown doesn’t have a letter U on his uniform either. Wonder whats up!
Chad Brown’s U was on his Jersey…. Bill Leavy did not have his R..
There needs to be some way to balance out the “defenseless receiver” rule. At this point, it’s tough for the defense to make a jarring hit to a receiver, it gives the offense way too much of an advantage.
Agree completely – and, it is not called with any consistency. Basically, if the receiver leaves his feet to catch the ball, it becomes a game of flag football for the defense.
Leavy and crew had a decent game today. They called a helmet to helmet PF that was shaky and they missed one on the hit on Pitta. Otherwise, the crew let the players play and they performed well.
Okay, I have to stick up for Nita here. While Ed may not be perfect, I always come away from one of his calls/games with the conviction that he WANTS to get it right. Not wants to look good. I cannot say that about all of the other WH’s out there.
Take for instance the “complete” pass that McAuley would not overturn in last night’s SF-Falcon’s game. Since when is trapping the ball between the ground and your body a catch? But, it takes a lot of guts to over turn a call in a championship game on national TV and McA obviously couldn’t do it. More concerned about appearance and accuracy.
More concerned about accuracy? I should hope so.
I disagree that it “takes guts to overturn a call in a championship game.” The officials are not indifferent to the magnitude of the game, but that call gets treated exactly the same as preseason Week 1.
While it certainly looked like the receiver trapped the ball, there was no shot that clearly indicated that ball was on the turf, not under his control. The correct call is “inconclusive,” which is what McAualy said when he said “stands.”
thank you very much Nadine!!
Meant to say “more concerned about appearance “than” accuracy. Monday morning typing doesn’t always work too well.
The ball may never have hit the ground but it was never still either. It bounced the entire time and was not in the receiver’s clear control or possession. The original call is understandable because of real time speed and angles; but once you have a chance to see it in slow motion and from different angles – which is what I thought the review was all about – it seems pretty difficult to call that a legal catch. Fortunately, it had no impact on the final outcome of them game. And, overall, the officiating crew let the guys just play football for most of the game.
OK — thought that was a little bizarre. My morning typing can be mumbling like my morning speech, too.
While I agree with everything you say (other than the appearance/accuracy aspect), that is not the way the rule works. If you are the hypothetical referee under the hood, and you apply the replay rules 100%, here’s how that would pan out:
“The ball may never have hit the ground, but –.” At that point you do not have solid, irrefutable evidence, so the call that was made in real time is deemed to be correct … under the replay rules. I will grant you that with all the bobbling around in there, it looks like the receiver trapped the ball. But the league has placed the burden of proof for a reversal very high with good reason.
The reason why McAulay has done an astounding 7 conference championships and 2 Super Bowls is because he unwaveringly applies the rules, and not instinct. Fault the replay rule, but McAulay played it, literally, by the book.
just read story on footballzebras.com about Jerome Boger having eight “dings” removed from his slate, giving him a perfect 2012 season and SuperBowl assignment, and how the other officials in the league know what is going on. As a fan of referees, I hope Jerome Boger and crew have a phenomenal game in New Orleans and knock it out of the park. Chances are they will do a GREAT job. Race should not play a factor on referee ratings or assignments. It’s unfortunate, if that is the case, for all referees involved (black and white refs). We’ve all commented on here that we feel Jerome was not the best WH and should not have the SB. What I don’t want to see is that story on FootballZebras become mainstream conversation because Boger had a bad game and people are wondering why he was the WH. That would not be good for anyone involved
I would appreciate it if we could avoid turning Boger’s assignment into a discussion of race. There’s zero reason to believe that’s the case.
That being said, you make some very good points. Thanks for stopping by and presenting your thoughts. 🙂
Thanks Preth…as I think I mentioned before, I come from basketball officiating but love following all things refereeing and find myself on here a good bit reading and learning from all the discussions. Keep up the good work everyone!
@RefFan… so you are saying.. a Referee or Official with 8 Dings and having them erased is good for Officiating?
It is like saying…… a person made an F on a paper and in a Class Room and they can graduate High School… or saying you are one of the WORST officials on the field and we erase all your mistakes and give you the Biggest game of the year… ahhhhh I do not think so… I feel that Ray Anderson has been very vindictive towards the Officials who scored better and who back the NFLRA.. Since they did not accept the 1st offer on the table..
I didn’t read RefFan’s comments that way. Rather, for the sake of the game we love and enjoy, let’s hope whoever is there, and however he got there, that he will have the best game possible.
This other stuff about the office politics can be addressed if the league chooses to (and if there is enough blowback from it), but I think we all want that to happen outside of the final 60 minutes of game time we have remaining in the season.
Ben – thank you for clear explanation! It is still hard for my “gut” to call that a catch, I can see why McAuley ruled it one. And, one thing I do firmly believe in (as a military rat) is that you should avoid questioning your general in the field as much as possible. He is the guy on the front line.
As for the article on Boger… I started it and then dropped it the minute it switched to race. I feel like that claim comes from no where and is totally unnecessary and demeaning – and often speaks more loudly of the writer than the subject. Facts only, please.
I do not think race was an issue. If the league had assigned Mike Carey to officiate the Super Bowl you would not see the same puzzled looks from those who have officiated football at high levels. What my gut tells me, and I will say that I do not have the sources to determine if it is true, is that Jerome Boger was one of the most willing Referees to settle during the strike and that is why Ray Anderson wanted him to officiate the Super Bowl
I’ll keep this discussion off the page here, per Preth’s request. Please reach out to me at ben(AT)footballzebras.com where you feel I mentioned race. I thought I was neutral on that.
Totally agree, Mike. Let me add what I suspect many of us believe, and I also do not have the sources to validate: Hochuli and Steratore and a few others with proven records very good performances this year (we can debate whether Ed was up to standard or not offline) were not NOT so willing to settle during the strike and therefore they were not selected to officiate in the championships. The front office gets their little jab in, but it hurts the integrity of game overall if the post-season officials are not truly being selected based on merit.
Let’s all hope for a clean and well played HarBowl. Though I do think there should be some special award issued for that sideline hissy fit that Jim H threw when his challenge didn’t turn out the way he wanted. He bested most three-year-olds I have seen.
Let me ask a history question…. Dick Jorgensen finally got a SB assignment at SB XXIV, his last game as a WH. Did he REALLY have the best grades that year? Ditto, Jerry Seeman with SB XXV, although by then he either was or was going to be the head of officials. It just seems kinda odd in those cases, particularly Jorgensen. Chuck Heberling reffed the John Elway overtime AFC Championship game in Cleveland, his last game as a ref and I don’t think he had (or deserved) a championship game assignment prior to that.
I don’t have an issue with Jerome Boger reffing the Super Bowl as others here do. I would love to find out how appeals are resolved with the league office because that may clue us in how this all came to be.
Boger getting the SB is picking up steam… ESPN, Yahoo and deadspin are all questioning why he was choosen with great sources.. of course true credit goes to Ben over at football zebras!!
here’s a link to the deadspin story…
http://deadspin.com/5979862/?utm_campaign=socialflow_deadspin_facebook&utm_source=deadspin_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow
Ed is one of my favorite ref to watch, nevertheless, he did not have a good year. If he was given the SB, would it be debated and or scrutinized the way these small minded and mendacious people are trying their best to defame and or assassinate Boger’s character? whoa!
If Hochuli were the Super Bowl leader, it’d be pretty questionable, but not completely outrageous. He’s been one of the most consistent R’s over the years, and has long been qualified to work the SB. Neither of those can be said of Boger.
I don’t think anyone is trying to defame Boger. Most of the questions are around the league’s decision to choose him and the unscrupulous circumstances surrounding their decision. I don’t remember anyone saying anything about Boger other than questioning his skills as an official, not his decisions as a person.
The officials I spoke to said that Jerome is a great guy; he’s just a part of this process that he has no control over. It has happened in prior years for reasons that were not related to the reason that is being widely reported. It’s just getting attention this year because it appears this time they had to make more grade modifications than in previous years.
Since Carl Cheffers, Clete Blakeman, Gene Steratore, Jeff Triplette, John Parry, Ron Winter, and Walt Anderson didn’t get playoff assignments this year, is it safe to say that they were in the bottom half of the referee rankings this season?
I’m just curious with John Parry doing the Super Bowl last year, and then not getting a playoff assignment this year, how often that has happened where a ref does the Super Bowl one year, and then is totally left off the postseason roster the following year.
That happened to Bob McElwee in 2000,Tony Corrente in 2007,Terry McAulay in 2009, Scott Green in 2010 and Walt Anderson last season. So it actually happens quite a bit, especially lately which further proves the point that the NFL likes to get different people a chance to work Playoff games. I think that if ratings are similar between two Referees or other Officials for that matter they will give the Playoff assignment to the Official who worked the playoffs less recently.
So the point is to allow others to work playoffs and Super Bowls….. and so there is no Reason for the Officials to strive to do their best. If you do your BEST you get ZERO playoffs.. That makes no sense..
That’s not exactly it. I am saying if ratings are close between two Officials they will usually give the Official who might have missed the Playoffs last year the benfit of the doubt and give him the Playoff game. I am fine with that. What I have a problem with is the NFL not following their own rules for Playoff Assignments. I would have rather them given Boger a CC Assignment so that he could actually have been eligible for the Super Bowl in the future but it did not come to be. Oh well. I still wish Boger and his crew the best of luck Today.
right on Becky! anderson, goodell and a hose of others have just taken the fun and enjoyment out of the football games.
I agree Nita.. Why Rotate Zebras????? You put the BEST in Playoffs & Super Bowl….
Keep in mind, ratings can be so close that a slight change in scoring or grading can move someone up or down considerably. Not always indicative of a great or poor game or season. Sometimes the bar for everyone goes up and sometimes it goes down and not always by much.
Jerome Boger’s accent is too thick to understand, he should be removed from being referee forever.
Jerome Boger makes a mistake already as he incorrectly announces that San Francisco has won the coin toss, when Baltimore does.
Someone tell me again why Boger deserved this super bowl? He is the worst excuse for an official I have ever seen. He doesn’t know offense from defense and doesn’t know which way what team is to go. WHat a JOKE!
I’d like to see you do better Nita. These comments bashing Boger are uncalled for. I don’t think he should be working the Super Bowl but he is doing fine. Let it go already.
thats well said Russ allthough we do not agree with the ref Let it go Its time to enjoy as we cant change who is working it
So Russ… when your Team makes it to the Super Bowl…. you want the worst rating Zebras working your game for your team????
No I just want to stop the personal attacks of him. It is not necessary. He did a perfectly fine job in the game.
I still want the BEST Zebras on the field during playoffs and not this ticky tacky ohhhh woooooo is me…… Steratore tipping cap and Hochuli on SI.com.. so we will not put you in any playoff games and Super Bowl games. That is no way to run a BILLION $$$$$$’s business and deny fans a great officiating game… Ray Anderson should be banned from the NFL for making this type of decision..
Right on Becky! oh well, till next football season. they have a while to figure out how they’ll screw up next season.
Just remember Russ, EVERYONE is entitled to their own opinion!
I agree Nita and that is fine that you have your opinion. What I didn’t like was your personal attack on Boger. Calling him “the worst excuse for an Official” is completely uncalled for.
Thank you Nita… you have the right to your opinion… Many people come on here and Bash Ed Hochuli… If it was NOT for ED HOCHULI.. NFL officiating would be down the drain.
I respectfully disagree. There are plenty of high caliber NFL officials besides Ed Hochuli. If we replaced Ed Hochuli with, hypothetically, Ron Torbert or Adrian Hill, in the long run I do not think we will see a noticeable downgrade in officiating. Despite his faults, Mike Pereira did an excellent job in finding officials who had the potential to rank among the best at their respective positions (and not just because it was a fluke season)
That was a poorly officiated Super Bowl.
Hate to say it, but blown calls effected the outcome of the game. The no-call on the hold on Crabtree on 4th and Goal, and the absurd holding on the kickoff return for TD were both badly missed. The hold on Crabtree was definitely clear cut enough to be called even at the end of a Super Bowl.
I’m an official, and always try to be on their side, but I think that bad calls helped to determine the winner.
Well, you must not be a very good official. Calls in Super Bowl were consistent from start to finish. The fourth down non-call was consistent and correct. Only really blown call was the running into the kicker where the impetus was the kicking team and should have been no call and no re-kick. Could have done better with the chippy fights and jawing, but this IS the Super Bowl and a lot is at stake. Overall, the officials did not impact the outcome.
Andrew–
I was at the game and have now seen the highlights, where was the hold on the kickoff return TD and who was it on?
Hate to say it, but the hand jockeying was consistently called throughout the game. The one p.i. on Culliver was so blatant that they had to call it.
The Wiz was right about the Running into the Kicker missed call, but that was more an issue with positioning of Boger than anything else and he’s right where the NFL wanted him.
The call I saw that was missed that should have been called was on the last drive, but was on 3rd down. With all the emphasis on player safety and defenseless receivers, there was a helmet to helmet hit on Crabtree that should have been flagged and SF given a first down.
The running into the kicker you can understand being called because the position of Boger. He can see the defender flying in, and the way that Akers fell down, it looked like he got hit. Only from the back can you see that he wasn’t. That is probably where Akers hurt himself and was limping around prior to the kickoff.
and i’m sure with a name like the wiz, you are a humble top-notch official yourself…cough cough.
we’ll just have to disagree, though you do make a good point about the roughing the kicker call. too bad to see a second SB effected by the officials (the first being the Seattle/Pitt SB)…
the hold on the kickoff return was not a hold. i initially thought the same, however, when two players sandwich another, it’s not considered a hold.
Nita, stand by your man. No matter if his officiating is going down hill or not, just stand by your obsession, I mean, your man.
Does anyone have a list of names for the new 2013 NFL officals?
The NFL Crews will not be known till like Middle of June 2013
NFL 2013 Crews are out!
Who’s reffing the HOF Game?? Football is back!
No word, as it is being guarded like a state secret. I take that back, it is being guarded far better than a state secret.
John Parry gets the game in Canton