View image | gettyimages.com Veteran official retiring “on my own terms” Tom Stabile, whose NFL career spanned 20 years and includes a Super Bowl assignment, will retire after working the Pro Bowl. Stable, 68, told his local newspaper that he made the decision to retire “at mid-season so that I may retire on my own…
View image | gettyimages.com Referee Pete Morelli will be presented with the annual Art McNally award at this Sunday’s Pro Bowl. The Art McNally Award is named after the former head of officiating from 1968 to 1990, and recognizes an official for “exemplary professionalism, leadership and commitment to sportsmanship on and off the field.” The…
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Crew followed standard procedure to prepare footballs for the game The past 24 hours have featured a media frenzy where the New England Patriots are accused of deflating the game balls to better suit quarterback Tom Brady in the wet weather. The NFL is investigating the matter. By rule, footballs need to be inflated to…
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The Divisional Playoff assignments give insight into who is likely to be this year’s Super Bowl referee.
View image | gettyimages.com The Divisional Playoff officiating assignments bear close watching, as we can confirm that the Super Bowl XLIX officials will be assigned a divisional playoff game. The Super Bowl officials will be the only officials assigned to two postseason games. It used to be that Super Bowl officials came out of the…
View image | gettyimages.com There is a well-defined process to overturning a call This past weekend, the Lions-Cowboys playoff game was marked by the crew picking up a pass interference flag against the Lions, setting off a huge uproar. Football officials have a set protocol that occurs before changing a call. How do officials approach…
Fortunately, most flagrant actions do not escape cameras The NFL most recently handed out two punishments for flagrant acts that were not flagged on the field. Ndamukong Suh was fined $70,000 (initially suspended one game but overturned on appeal, but don’t get me started on that) for stepping on Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (30 second…