Professional football continues for under the banner of the Alliance of American Football, which begins its inaugural season Feb. 9, just six days after Super Bowl LIII. The Alliance uses the 8-person mechanics of the NCAA and has 48 officials from Football Bowl Subdivision conferences on six crews. This differs from
Author: Ben Austro
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)
Football Zebras celebrates 10 years
Championship game officials from Southern California raises ‘concern’ in the NFL
A report by ESPN's Adam Schefter on Pro Bowl Sunday reaches back to the NFC Championship Game to stack another layer on the controversy regarding the officiating. Four of the officials live in Southern California within at least a 2-hour drive of the Rams home stadium (which, I understand, in typical
Wayback machine: When Walt Coleman entered the league in 1989
This is how long it has been since the no-call defensive pass interference in the NFC Championship game without acknowledgement from the NFL
Commissioner can issue a Rule 17 overturn of Saints loss … and other myths from Championship Sunday
As a public service, we are tackling some of the opinions and conspiracy theories that are propagating and, contrary to contemporary Internet standards, serving them with a dose of facts and reasoning. 1. Goodell cannot invoke Rule 17 This is probably the worst of the myths out there, mostly because of its
Saints unable to run clock after no-call pass interference
NFC Championship: Rams at Saints "For a call like that not to be made, man, it's just hard to swallow." Saints coach Sean Payton addressed reporters having gotten off the phone with senior vice-president of officiating Al Riveron. According to Payton, Riveron had already admitted a key play in the waning minutes
With the players, officials are vying for the NFL in college invitational games
Big Ten line judge Patrick Holt is mentored by NFL line judge Tim Podraza during a practice at Jets training camp (Ben Austro/Football Zebras photo) The three college all-star games provide an additional opportunity for NFL teams to scout potential players for the upcoming draft. It also gives an opportunity for
Ron Torbert is likely to be the Super Bowl LIII referee [updated]
NFL adds approved ruling on fumble/safety reviews to casebook for playoffs
The NFL officiating department took the unusual, but not unprecedented, step of adding an approved ruling to the current casebook, effective for the postseason. Small tweaks have been made in the past entering the postseason, which is deemed to be equitable when everyone's record resets to 0-0. Last season, we