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Divisional assignments: Leavy, McAulay, Steratore, Vinovich

Football Zebras has confirmed the referees that will be heading the Divisional Playoff crews next weekend. As reported earlier, the Super Bowl officials are mixed in with the Divisional Playoff crews. (McAulay is ineligible due to last year’s assignment.)

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Football Zebras has confirmed the officiating crews 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. As reported earlier, the Super Bowl officials are mixed in with the Divisional Playoff crews. (McAulay is ineligible due to last year’s assignment.)

Three alternates are assigned to each game: generally, 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).

All times are Eastern.

The prior playoff experience listed for the crew chief includes his service as an NFL official, including as referee and any other crew position (excluding alternate assignments).


Saturday, Jan. 10

Ravens at Patriots, 4:35 p.m. (NBC)

Bill Vinovich is the referee, who is in his 9th year and 6th as referee. This is his 6th postseason assignment (2 Wild Card Playoffs, 3 Divisional Playoffs, and 1 Conference Championship).

Yrs 2014 crew College Occupation
R 52 Bill Vinovich 10 San Diego accountant, former NFL officiating supervisor
U 49 Rich Hall 11 Hochuli Arizona custom cabinetry
HL 106 Wayne Mackie 8 Steratore Colgate director of operations, housing
LJ 108 Gary Arthur 18 Steratore Wright State president, commercial printing company
FJ 118 David Meslow 4 Blakeman Augsburg College marketing manager
SJ 21 Jeff Lamberth 13 Wrolstad Texas A&M attorney
BJ 112 Tony Steratore 15 Boger California (Pa.) co-owner, supply company
  • Replay official: Mike Wimmer
  • Replay assistant: Terry Poulos
  • Alternates: R Ronald Torbert, HL John McGrath and SJ Scott Edwards
  • Supervisors: Johnny Grier, Al Riveron

Panthers at Seahawks, 8:15 p.m. (Fox)

Terry McAulay is the referee, who is in his 17th year and 14th as referee. This is McAulay’s 15th postseason assignment (2 Wild Card Playoffs, 3 Divisional Playoffs, 7 Conference Championships, and Super Bowls XXXIX, XLIII, and last year’s XLVIII. His Super Bowl assignments were all as a referee. In a scheduling quirk, this is the third assignment of McAulay to the Seahawks in their last four playoff games

Yrs 2014 crew College Occupation
R 77 Terry McAulay 17 Louisiana State college officiating coordinator
U 96 Undrey Wash 15 Cheffers Texas-Arlington claims controller
HL 74 Derick Bowers 12 Parry East Central sales representative
LJ 9 Mark Perlman 14 Leavy Salem teacher
FJ 25 Bob Waggoner 18 Steratore Juniata College retired probation officer
SJ 73 Joe Larrew 13 Parry St Louis attorney
BJ 111 Terrence Miles 7 Anderson Arizona State quality control manager
  • Replay official: Earnie Frantz
  • Replay assistant: Brian Matoren
  • Alternates: R Craig Wrolstad, LJ Byron Boston, SJ Mike Weatherford
  • Supervisor: Garth DeFelice

Sunday, Jan. 11

Cowboys at Packers, 1 p.m. (Fox)

Gene Steratore is the referee, who is in his 12th year and 9th as referee. This is his 8th postseason assignment, including 2 Wild Card Playoffs, 4 Divisional Playoffs, and 2 Conference Championships.

Yrs 2014 crew College Occupation
R 114 Gene Steratore 12 Kent State co-owner, supply company
U 129 Bill Schuster 15 Coleman Alfred insurance broker
HL 8 Dana McKenzie 7 Morelli Toledo claims adjuster
LJ 59 Rusty Baynes 5 Vinovich Auburn-Montgomery general manager, safety services
FJ 43 Terry Brown 9 Boger Tennessee probation supervisor
SJ 97 Tom Hill 16 Allen Carson Newman teacher
BJ 30 Todd Prukop 6 Cheffers Cal State-Fullerton medical sales representative
  • Replay official: Bill Spyksma
  • Replay assistant: Terry Sullivan
  • Alternates: R Jeff Triplette, HL Jim Howey, FJ Dyrol Prioleau
  • Supervisor: Gary Slaughter

Colts at Broncos, 4:40 p.m. (CBS)

Bill Leavy is the referee. This is his 20th year and 14th as referee. This is Leavy’s 16th postseason assignment, including 4 Wild Card Playoffs, 9 Divisional Playoffs, 1 Conference Championship, and Super Bowls XXXIV and XL. The first Super Bowl was as a back judge, the second was as a referee.

Yrs 2014 crew College Occupation
R 127 Bill Leavy 20 San Jose State retired firefighter
U 71 Ruben Fowler 9 Blakeman Huston-Tillotson retired firefighter
HL 48 Jim Mello 11 Allen Northeastern facilities manager
LJ 10 Julian Mapp 6 Parry Grambling State software QA tester
FJ 33 Steve Zimmer 18 Wrolstad Hofstra attorney
SJ 95 James Coleman 10 McAulay Arkansas electrical engineer
BJ 133 Steve Freeman 14 Triplette Mississippi State custom home builder
  • Replay official: Larry Nemmers
  • Replay assistant: Bill Tracy
  • Alternates: R Walt Coleman, LJ Tom Stephan, SJ Michael Banks
  • Supervisor: Neely Dunn

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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