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Referee assignments, Wild Card round: Riveron, Green, Carey, Morelli

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Wildcard_10We have just learned the assignments for the Wild Card weekend. Officials are listed with their uniform number, years experience (including this season), the crew each official worked with in the regular season (by the referee’s name), college, and outside occupation. All times are Eastern.

Three alternates are assigned to each game: one is designated for the offensive backfield (a referee or umpire), one is on the line of scrimmage (head linesman or line judge), and one is a deep position (side judge, field judge, or back judge).

Updated to reflect the swap of head linesmen in Ravens and Redskins home games (story).

Saturday, Jan. 5

AFC Wild Card: Bengals at Texans, 4:30 p.m. (NBC)

Alberto Riveron is the referee, who is in his 9th year and 5th as referee. This is his 5th postseason assignment (first Wild Card Playoff, 3 Divisional Playoffs, and 1 Conference Championship).

         Yr. Crew College Occupation
R 57 Alberto Riveron 9    Miami sales, commercial restaurant equipment
U 11 Fred Bryan 4 Corrente Northern Iowa superintendent, juvenile correctional facility
HL 48 Jim Mello 9 Riveron Northeastern facilities manager
LJ 108 Gary Arthur 16 Winter Wright State president, commercial printing company
FJ 33 Steve Zimmer 16 Riveron Hofstra attorney
SJ 58 Jimmy DeBell 4 Riveron SUNY-Brockport high school teacher
BJ 12 Greg Steed 10 Winter Howard computer systems analyst
  • Alternates: Gene Steratore (backfield), John McGrath (linesman), Dryol Prioleau (deep)
  • Replay official: Larry Nemmers
  • Replay assistant: Lou Nazzaro
  • Supervisor: Gary Slaughter
  • Observer: Duke Carroll

Riveron and Hayes officiated the AFC Championship game last year, DeBell was in the NFC Championship game, and Arthur was in last year’s Super Bowl.

Riveron was in Cincinnati for the Raiders-Bengals game in Week 12.

NFC Wild Card: Vikings at Packers, 8 p.m. (NBC)

Scott Green is the referee, who in is his 22nd year and 8th as referee. This is his 12th postseason assignment (6 Wild Card Playoffs, 2 Divisional Playoffs, 1 Conference Championship, and Super Bowls XXXVI, XXXVIII, and XLIV).

         Yr. Crew College Occupation
R 19 Scott Green 22    Delaware president, government support services
U 102 Bruce Stritesky 7 Green Embry Riddle airline pilot
HL 134 Ed Camp 13 Boger William Paterson physical education teacher
LJ 32 Jeff Bergman 21 Triplette Robert Morris president and chief executive officer, medical services
FJ 41 Boris Cheek 17 Green Morgan State director of operations and management
SJ 116 Mike Weatherford 11 Steratore Oklahoma State energy trader
BJ 93 Scott Helverson 10 Green Iowa sales, printing and promotions
  • Alternates: Paul King (backfield), Tom Stabile (linesman), Greg Gautreaux (deep)
  • Replay official: Carl Madsen
  • Replay assistant: Gene Cunningham
  • Supervisor: Ed Coukart
  • Observer: John Schleyer

Green officiated a Week 12 game when the Vikings were visiting the Bears.

Sunday, Jan. 6

AFC Wild Card: Colts at Ravens, 1 p.m. (CBS)

  Mike Carey is the referee who is in his 23rd year and 17th as referee. This is his 18th postseason assignment (10 Wild Card Playoffs, 5 Divisional Playoffs, 2 Conference Championships, and Super Bowl XLII).

         Yr. Crew College Occupation
R 94 Mike Carey 23    Santa Clara owner, skiing accessories
U 49 Rich Hall 9 Hochuli Arizona custom cabinetry
HL 8 Dana McKenzie 5 Morelli Toledo claims adjuster
LJ 47 Tim Podraza 5 Carey Nebraska banker
FJ 63 Jim Quirk 3 Leavy Middlebury financial advisor
SJ 125 Laird Hayes 18 Cheffers Princeton professor, physical education & athletics
BJ 6 Kirk Dornan 19 Carey Central Washington purchasing manager
  • Alternates: John Parry (backfield), Jim Howey (linesman), James Coleman (deep)
  • Replay official: Jim Lampetina
  • Replay assistant: Jim Pearson
  • Supervisor: Johnny Grier
  • Observer: Phil Luckett

Last year, Podraza officiated the NFC championship game. Hayes was in the Super Bowl, and had the call of the year.

Carey was in Baltimore when the Ravens hosted the Cowboys in Week 7.

NFC Wild Card: Seahawks at Redskins, 4:30 p.m. (Fox)

Pete Morelli is the referee, who is in his 16th year and 11th as referee. This is his 12th postseason assignment (6 Wild Card Playoffs, 4 Divisional Playoffs, and 2 Conference Championships).

         Yr. Crew College Occupation
R 135 Pete Morelli 16    St Mary’s high school principal
U 71 Ruben Fowler 7 Leavy Huston-Tillotson retired firefighter
HL 74 Derick Bowers 10 Parry East Central sales representative
LJ 9 Mark Perlman 12 Leavy Salem teacher
FJ 89 Jon Lucivansky 4 Morelli Minnesota high school associate principal
SJ 97 Tom Hill 14 Winter Carson Newman teacher
BJ 133 Steve Freeman 12 Triplette Mississippi State custom home builder
  • Alternates: Jeff Triplette (backfield), Adrian Hill (linesman), Dave Wyant (deep)
  • Replay official: Tommy Moore
  • Replay assistant: Bud Alexander
  • Supervisor: Neely Dunn
  • Observer: Jim Duke

Hill was in the AFC conference championship game last year.

Morelli worked a Redskins-Steelers matchup in Week 8 in Pittsburgh. In that game, Redskins safety DeAngelo Hall was ejected for confronting an official. That incident affected the officiating assignments for today’s game, as Morelli’s head linesman was moved to the Ravens home game.

Ben Austro is the editor and founder of Football Zebras and the author of So You Think You Know Football?: The Armchair Ref's Guide to the Official Rules (on sale now)

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