Football Zebras.com

Jets at Steelers

Ed Hochuli is the referee (full crew) in his sixth conference championship game.

Final | Steelers 24-19. Penalties: Jets 6 for 50 yards, Steelers 4 for 25 yards, 1 penalty declined (against the Jets). There were two replay reviews: a coach’s challenge (Jets) was reversed, while a booth review was upheld.

3rd Quarter | 13:01 remaining | Steelers 24-0. Jets called a timeout with the play clock about to expire. Quarterback Mark Sanchez pleaded with Hochuli that the play clock was not properly set. Sometime during the commercial, and with little explanation, the play clock was reset to 25 seconds, and the Jets were refunded their timeout. Not sure what caused this, but it’s the third mistake in officiating mechanics in this game.

2nd Quarter | 1:13 remaining | Steelers 24-0 | video. A hit on Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez resulted in a sack-fumble that was returned for a touchdown. The replay assistant called for a review of the play, as it appeared to me that Sanchez’s arm was moving forward slightly. If his arm was moving forward, it would be ruled an incomplete pass, even though the ball ultimately went backwards (update: see comments for the rule). Hochuli upheld the fumble and the touchdown, saying that he determined Sanchez was not yet moving his arm forward when he was hit.

2nd Quarter | 12:59 remaining | Steelers 7-0. An odd situation as a measurement call clearly disadvantaged the offense. On a 4th-and-1, the Steelers tried to take advantage of a potential coverage mismatch by trying to quickly snap the ball for the next play. Hochuli stopped the clock and declared a measurement was in order. Now, the Steelers needed a yard, but it was closer to 4½ feet, and clearly short of a first down. Generally, a referee will grant the offense’s request for a measurement for a short distance to determine the official distance needed (rather than to see if a first down is attained). But when the offense is trying to take advantage by a hurry-up play, and the offense is comfortable with the fourth-down ruling, what difference does it make how far away it is?

Seemingly calling a different play on the restart, the Steelers were intercepted. Second instance of questionable mechanics in this game by this all-star crew.

1st Quarter | 8:50 remaining | No score. Still the first drive of the game and Steelers receiver made a catch at the 2-yard line. Jets coach Rex Ryan challenged the ruling, and referee Ed Hochuli overturned it on replay, saying the ball touched the ground. Ever so slightly, too.

1st Quarter | 11:32 remaining | No score. A penalty flag was thrown for an ineligible receiver downfield in error on a play where Ben Roethlisberger threw a backwards pass. I believe that the call came from a downfield official who would not have had an angle to determine a backwards pass from 30 yards away. But, that official was able to determine the reputed ineligible player from the distance.

1st Quarter |11:59 remaining | No score. A first down was granted to the Steelers on their opening drive on the basis that the receiver’s forward progress was stopped at a certain point. CBS commentator Phil Simms said the spot could be challenged, but I do not think it would be allowed on a forward-progress ruling, even if it relates to a first-down spot.

Packers at Bears

Terry McAulay is the referee (full crew) in his fifth conference championship game.

Final | Packers 21-14. Penalties: Packers 6 for 40 yards, Bears 9 for 89 yards, none declined or offsetting. Two replay reviews: one coach’s challenge (Bears) was reversed and one booth review was upheld.

4th Quarter | 2:33 remaining | Packers 21-14. After much deliberation by referee Terry McAulay and his crew, an intentional grounding call was penalized on Bears quarterback Caleb Hanie. While there was no receiver at the location where the pass landed, a receiver (no sure who) was running a route that would have put him there. Generally, off-target passes are not penalized as such, and difficult to do in post-play reconstruction by the officials without the benefit of replay. In my opinion, this should not have been penalized.

4th Quarter | 9:32 remaining | Packers 14-7. A punt by the Packers was ruled a touchback because the player covering the punt stepped in the end zone. He needed to establish two feet in bounds prior to touching the ball. By diving for the ball, he did not re-establish in the field of play.

4th Quarter | 12:05 remaining | Packers 14-0. A completion to Bears receiver Johnny Knox was ruled down inside the 1-yard line, with side judge Greg Meyer right next to him who made the call of out-of-bounds. A replay showed that Knox did not step out of bounds, and a touchdown should have scored, but it was not challenged by the Bears. Bears scored a touchdown on the next play.

3rd Quarter | :55 remaining | Packers 14-0. The Bears have placed their third quarterback, Caleb Hanie, in the game just prior to the fourth quarter. If Hanie was listed as an “inactive” third quarterback, then Bears quarterbacks Jay Cutler and Todd Collins are prohibited from returning, even if Hanie is injured. However, sometimes a team will have all three quarterbacks as “active,” which places no restrictions on the third quarterback. (See the Zebra Blog rules school on third quarterbacks.)

We are checking to see if the Bears inactive list specifies Hanie as the inactive third quarterback. (Update, postgame: The gamebook lists seven inactives for the Bears, instead of the usual eight. So Hanie was indeed classified as the inactive third quarterback, who under rule is allowed to enter the game prior to the fourth quarter as long as the other two quarterbacks are benched for the remainder of the game.)

3rd Quarter | 8:35 remaining | Packers 14-0. An interception by the Packers’ Earl Bennett should have been ruled a trapped ball, as it clearly touched the ground. Bears coach Lovie Smith had to use a challenge, and the play was overturned on replay. Not sure of the angle the covering officials had on the play, but that was a huge miss that had to be corrected on replay.

2nd Quarter |  :32 remaining | Packers 14-0 | video. An interception at the 3-yard line by Packers cornerback Sam Shields was placed under review by the replay assistant (2nd play in video clip at :40). Two elements of this play were in dispute: (1) did Shields maintain possession throughout the process of the catch, and (2) did Packers receiver Johnny Knox contact Shields after he caught the ball. If Knox did make contact, Shields would have been ruled down at the 3-yard line, rather than being able to get up and run out to the 11-yard line.

Fox Sports rules analyst Mike Pereira said that the interception should have been overturned. I was focused on the down-by-contact ruling with the limited number of replays the top Fox crew provided, so I cannot comment on the process of the catch. I believe that if you rule that the catch stands, Shields should be ruled down at the 3. (Update, post-game: Looking at the NFL.com clip, I didn’t see anything decisive to overturn the interception, as it appears that Shields got his hand under the ball. Not sure if Pereira based his decision on another replay that was provided to him while we were in commercial.)

2nd Quarter | 1:52 remaining | Packers 14-0. After a fairly quiet and fast paced first half, an infrequent ruling came into play on a fumble by Jay Cutler. A fumble with less than two minutes remaining in either half cannot be advanced by any player on the offense, other than the player who fumbled. Since the ball was recovered behind Cutler, the spot of the recovery becomes the dead-ball spot, because it is more disadvantageous to the offense. From the rulebook, Rule 8, Section 7, Article 6:

Fumble After Two-Minute Warning. If a fumble by either team occurs after the two-minute warning:

(a) The ball may be advanced by any opponent.

(b) The player who fumbled is the only player of his team who is permitted to recover and advance the ball.

(c) If the recovery or catch is by a teammate of the player who fumbled, the ball is dead, and the spot of the next snap is the spot of the fumble, or the spot of the recovery if the spot of the recovery is behind the spot of the fumble.

2nd Quarter | 11:13 remaining | Packers 14-0 | video. Tight call made by line judge Mark Perlman on the touchdown by Packers running back James Starks. It was quick, decisive, and correct.

The NFL announced the remaining officiating assignments for the postseason.

Walt Anderson will be headed to his second league title game, having headed the crew for Super Bowl XXXV at the end of the 2000 season. We are going to go deeper into the Super Bowl assignments next week, so that we can focus on the conference championship games.

As we previously reported, Terry McAulay and Ed Hochuli will head up this weekend’s all-star crews. Everyone we noted who was substituted for in the wild card and divisional playoffs earned a conference championship assignment. The only other reason an official would be substituted for in the first two rounds (other than first-year referees being automatically disqualified) is for poor evaluations; that did not happen this year.

Packers at Bears

Crew members are listed with their regular season head referees. Those whose regular season crews officiated a playoff game are indicated with a * for the wild card playoffs and † for divisional playoffs. (Officials on the conference championship crews are replaced on the crews in earlier playoff rounds.)

• R — #77 Terry McAulay* (13th season, 10th as referee)
• U — #124 Carl Paganelli (12th season, Jerome Boger)
• HL — #54 George Hayward (20th season, Pete Morelli*)
• LJ — #9 Mark Perlman (10th season, Bill Leavy†)
• FJ — #33 Steve Zimmer (14th season, Alberto Riverón†)
• SJ — #78 Greg Meyer (9th season, Clete Blakeman)
• BJ —#112  Tony Steratore (11th season, Boger)
• Alternates — Scott Green (R), Wayne Mackie (FJ)

Meyer was the side judge in last year’s Super Bowl, and was therefore ineligible for a Super Bowl assignment this year. Green was the referee in Super Bowl XLIV.

McAulay was the referee in the regular season matchup between the Packers and Bears. The Green Bay–Milwaukee media has made an issue over McAulay after his Week 3 assignment in the Packers–Bears game. The Packers were penalized 18 times in that game. However, with a mixed crew no correlation between the regular season and the conference championships can be made.

Jets at Steelers

Crew members are listed with their regular season head referees. Those whose regular season crews officiated a playoff game are indicated with a * for the wild card playoffs and † for divisional playoffs. (Officials on the conference championship crews are replaced on the crews in earlier playoff rounds.)

• R — #85 Ed Hochuli† ( 21st season, 19th as referee)
• U — #53 Garth DeFelice (13th season, Clete Blakeman)
• HL —#28 Mark Hittner (14th season, Hochuli†)
• LJ — #100 Tom Symonette (7th season, Hochuli†)
• FJ — #25 Bob Waggoner (14th season, Gene Steratore*)
• SJ —#125 Laird Hayes (16th season, Mike Carey*)
• BJ — #105 Dino Paganelli (5th season, Gene Steratore*)
• Alternates — Ron Winter (R), Boris Cheek (FJ)

Interestingly, Hochuli’s crew was divided in half this postseason: three officiated under Jeff Triplette in the divisional playoffs and Hochuli has two of his crew members. (One was a first-year official, and was therefore ineligible.)

Dino Paganelli is officiating in his first year of championship game eligibility. He will be eligible in future seasons for a Super Bowl assignment, having worked a conference championship game.

We find Cheek’s placement on the alternate roster to be interesting. Officials are graded for postseason assignments by a percentage of correct calls and scores of written exams. However, there are two subjective categories: decisiveness and professionalism. Although the evaluations are kept secret, we wonder if Cheek’s post-game remarks defending his officiating to a Buccaneers cornerback caused him to be moved from an on-field to an alternate position.

Photo credits: United States Air Force (top), Thinh Nguyen

Jets at Patriots

Bill Leavy is the referee (full crew).

2nd Quarter, 5:46 remaining. Patriots coach Bill Belichick challenged a juggled catch by Jets receiver Santonio Holmes. Although it was just a five-yard pass, it made the difference between a first down and a 4th-and-5. Holmes was able to get his hand under the ball without it contacting the ground. Unlike yesterday’s call against the Falcons’ Michael Jenkins who gained control out of bounds, Holmes was in the field, so he was able to fully gain control when he was on the ground.Replay review upheld the call.

Seahawks at Bears

Alberto Riverón is the referee (full crew).

Not much to report from this game. A very cleanly called game all around. This is evident in that Fox rules analyst Mike Pereira was fairly silent throughout the game. The only time I recall hearing from Pereira was about the NFL considering extra padding to the knees, thighs and hips while Seahawks cornerback Marcus Trufant was injured on the field.

Packers at Falcons

John Parry is the referee.

3rd Quarter, 7:41 remaining. Packers coach Mike McCarthy challenged a 23-yard reception by Falcons receiver Michael Jenkins. When Jenkins gets both feet down following a catch, there must be a recognizable amount of time that he holds possession of the ball. In this case, because he is hit right away on the second foot going down, and the ball is sliding around just after the hit, Jenkins did not hold the ball long enough. In replay, an official is to look at this type of catch-and-control call in real speed, rather than slow-motion video.

2nd Quarter, 12:12 remaining (video). Jordy Nelson, while going for the end zone contacted the pylon on the goal line. While the pylon is technically fully out of bounds, a touchdown counts because as soon as the ball (and not a player’s body part) contacts the pylon, it has broken the plane of the end zone. If Nelson contacted the pylon with a part of his body before extending the ball over the goal line, a touchdown is not scored.

Pregame. The Packers were apparently disadvantaged in Week 12 when they played at the Falcons because the Georgia Dome’s video feed to the coaches’ box was allegedly delayed. This could have cost the Packers a chance at a replay challenge. Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that the NFL found the equipment to be operating properly.

Ravens at Steelers

Jeff Triplette is heading up a mixed crew: three of Ed Hochuli’s officials are on the squad.

3rd Quarter, 11:37 remaining. Odd explanation of a call by Triplette, because a Steelers’ punt was first touched by one of the Steelers before Webb grabbed the ball and ran with it. Triplette called it “illegal touching,” which is technically correct, even if it implies there was a penalty. Because the Steelers touched the ball first, the Ravens had the option of taking the ball at the spot of the touch or at the spot of Webb’s runback.

End of first half. Busy, busy half for the officiating crew. That Ravens touchdown could have easily been nullified if one of the officials blew his whistle inadvertently. Despite the fact that it is a mixed crew, the officials are working well communicating with each other. Two replay reviews so far: one upheld, one reversal. Ravens 3 penalties for 52 yards, Steelers 6 for 68. (Ravens also committed a double foul on one play, so the Steelers declined one of them.)

2nd Quarter, 15:00 remaining. A CBS graphic showed that this is one of the most penalized quarters in the postseason for 20 years. The officials gained 106 yards on both teams.

1st Quarter, 1:07 remaining (video). Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger lost the ball after pump faking twice. Most players assumed it to be an incomplete pass, but Ravens defensive end Cory Redding picked the ball up, playing it as a fumble, and scored an easy touchdown. It was hard to tell, but Triplette did throw a beanbag to indicate a fumble. Also of note, this is the second play in the first quarter that involved a player continuing the play in absence of a whistle.

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin challenged the fumble, but it was confirmed correctly by replay review. (Roethlisberger did not protest the call, as was noted by CBS commentator Greg Gumble, but unnoticed by Roethlisberger’s coach.) Before the first quarter ended, the Steelers exhausted their ability to challenge any plays through the duration of the game.

1st Quarter, 3:00 remaining. Ravens receiver T.J. Houshmandzedeh was lobbying unsuccessfully for a roughness penalty on Ike Taylor. Both players exchanged headbutts. At this point both teams are playing like division rivals, but the officials need to make sure they have control of this game. So far, many more penalties than any of the wild card games at this point.

1st Quarter, 12:10 remaining. Steelers receiver Hines Ward received an unnecessary roughness penalty, however in that exchange,Ed Reed of the Ravens grabbed his facemask. There should have been an offsetting facemask foul.

1st Quarter, 15:00 remaining. Right out of the chute, a replay review. This was hard to discern at full speed, so the officials do get credit for making a good call with a replay assist. The opening kickoff was returned by the Ravens’ Lardarius Webb, who was tackled by kicker Sean Suisham. Webb got up, not hearing a whistle, and ran for an additional14 yards. The original ruling was that Webb rolled over Suisham, without a part of his body other than his hand touching the ground. Webb’s elbow did graze the ground, so the ball was returned to the spot of that tackle.

Contrasting to his predecessor’s opinion, vice-president of officiating Carl Johnson has defended the rule that, until the recent arrival of “the process of the catch,” was considered one of the sport’s worst.

It is the dreaded Tuck Rule, added to the rulebook in 1999, and most notably implemented in a 2002 playoff game that turned impending elimination into second life for the Patriots on the road to their Super Bowl victory.

Mike Pereira previously held the title until he retired last year to become the rules expert on the Fox Sports staff. Pereira held the view that the Tuck Rule should remain, but changed his tune this past week, now that he no longer works for the league.

Even with Pereira’s change of heart, Johnson ensures that the Tuck Rule has a continuity of support from the officiating management. On the NFL Network “Official Review” segment (video), Johnson says the Competition Committee will have the ultimate decision on the fate of the Tuck Rule, but defended its use:

It would be a cheap fumble if the guy who’s throwing the ball attempts to bring it back or is trying to tuck it. I like the rule the way it is.

It will be interesting if the Competition Committee considers the opinion of the former over the current head of officiating when they review changes to the rulebook in the offseason.

By examining the officiating rosters for the wild card and divisional playoffs, we have some reasonable certainty of the crews that will work the conference championship games. (More on the process is in an earlier post.)

Officials who are selected for the conference title games are the second- and third-best rated at their positions. If their crew worked the wild card or divisional playoffs, those officials were substituted with the highest ranked official at their position who was not assigned to another game. However, officials with less than five years experience in the NFL, as well as those who have never worked a postseason game, cannot qualify for the conference championship. (Officials are also substituted from wild card and divisional playoff assignments if they do not individually score well enough.)

While officials for the conference championships do not work in the first two rounds of the playoffs, Super Bowl officials generally do, but a Super Bowl official will not work a conference championship.

Terry McAulay and Ed Hochuli were not assigned to the first two rounds of the playoffs, but their crews were. It would be incredibly unlikely in the cases of McAulay and Hochuli if they were substituted out of the early round games because of poor grades.

The following officials for the remaining positions were substituted on their crews and are eligible to work a conference championship game, listed with their regular-season crew chief (* indicates that his crew worked the wild card playoffs, † for the divisional playoffs):

• HL — George Hayward (Pete Morelli*)
• HL — Mark Hittner (Hochuli†)
• LJ — Tom Symonette (Hochuli†)
• LJ — Mark Pearlman (Bill Leavy†)
• FJ — Bob Waggoner (Gene Steratore*)
• FJ — Steve Zimmer (Alberto Riverón†)
• SJ — Laird Hayes (Mike Carey*)
• BJ — Dino Paganelli (Steratore*)

Of this list, Paganelli is in his first year of eligibilty for the conference championships, as this is his fifth season.

Missing from this list, notably, are two at the umpire position. This likely means that the championship umpires came from crews that were not ranked in the top 8. If we exclude the umpires assigned already, either on-field or as an alternate, there are only five eligible for the conference championship games. One of those five, Undrey Wash, served in last year’s Super Bowl, and may be a conference championship candidate since officials do not work consecutive Super Bowls.

The list is also incomplete at both the line judge and side judge positions, with one missing for both.

The officiating crews for the divisional playoff round were announced by the NFL for the games on Jan. 15-16. Full list is after the jump.

read more »

Ravens at Chiefs

Mike Carey is the referee.

1st Quarter, 6:26 remaining. The Chiefs challenged the spot of the ball in relation to the first-down marker. Since Ravens running back Ray Rice landed with his hand first, he was not considered down until another part of his body contacted the ground. Ravens got the first down, which was upheld by replay.

3rd Quarter, :21 remaining. A ruling of a sack-fumble by Ravens cornerback Lardarius Webb on Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel was challenged by the Chiefs. Under the controversial so-called tuck rule, Cassel was found to be still in the act of passing, so Webb knocking the ball out of Cassel’s hand should have resulted in an incomplete pass, rather than a fumble. Carey reversed the on-field ruling to an incomplete pass, marking the first replay reversal of the playoffs an the end of the eleventh quarter of this weekend games.

Packers at Eagles

Pete Morelli is the referee.

4th Quarter, 4:08 remaining. On a two-point conversion attempt, a huge administrative error was averted. A pass to Eagles receiver Brent Celek was completed for two points, however he stepped out of bounds prior to catching the pass (video). A penalty was assessed because a player who steps out of bounds cannot be the first player to touch a pass (illegal-touching-of-a-pass penalty). Celek caught the ball after he returned to (and re-established himself in) the field of play, however Morelli ruled that the conversion try was over. This would be correct if illegal touching is a loss-of-down penalty.

Before the ensuing kickoff, Eagles coach Andy Reid protested that his team should get another chance at the conversion try. One unidentified member of the officiating crew corrected the call, that the five-yard penalty must be assessed and the conversion try attempted from the 7-yard line. The point was moot as the Eagles failed on the second try, but thankfully the error was corrected in a timely fashion, even if slightly delayed.

4th Quarter, 1:06 remaining. Celek was injured on an incomplete pass later in the quarter. When an injury occurs in the final two minutes of the game, a team is charged a timeout. However, since the Eagles had already used all three timeouts, they were granted a fourth, free of penalty. According to Rule 4, Section 5, Article 4:

(d) No yardage penalty will be assessed for the first excess team timeout.

4th Quarter, :33 remaining. Tramon Williams intercepted Eagles quarterback Michael Vick in the end zone to seal the victory, but it could have reversed fortunes back to the Eagles. Williams left the end zone without being ruled down by contact, so the play continued to be live (video). If he had spiked or otherwise let go of the ball, it would have been considered a fumble. Fortunately for Williams, he went to the ground at the 4-yard line to end the play.

Saints at Seahawks

Walt Coleman is the referee, heading up Terry McAulay’s crew.

First half. No replay reviews. Saints have 4 penalties for 18 yards, Seahawks 3/14, no penalties declined.

Hasselblock in the back? Credit: NFL/NBC Sports

4th Quarter, 3:38 remaining. On the amazing touchdown run by Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch, did quarterback Matt Hasselbeck throw an illegal block in the back? No penalty was called, likely because the officials determined the Saints defender wasn’t knocked over (he, instead, dove for Lynch) or otherwise disadvantaged (video, after Lynch passes the 30-yard line).

4th Quarter, 1:34 remaining. In spite of help from behind, Saints running back DeShawn Wynn failed on his two-point conversion attempt (video, forward to 9:01). With a boost from a lineman Jermon Bushrod to keep Wynn on his feet, if the conversion scored, it would have been nullified by an assisting-the-runner penalty. From the rulebook, Rule 12, Section 1, Article 5:

No offensive player may … lift a runner to his feet or pull him in any direction at any time.

Had there been a score, it would have been a re-try from the 12-yard line.

Final. Not a busy night at all for replay official Earnie Frantz. No challenges, no replays for the entire game, and nothing that he missed in the last two minutes that was worthy of a review. Easy money.

Jets at Colts

Gene Steratore is the referee.

1st Quarter, 13:29. No challenges in Game 1 of the doubleheader; first challenge in the first two minutes of the second one. Colts coach Jim Caldwell challenged whether Jets punt returner Santonio Holmes was the first player to touch a punted ball. Holmes was oddly hovering over the rolling ball, because if he touched it, even accidentally, it would have made a live ball, which the Colts would have recovered. Steratore upheld the play on the field that the ball was first touched by the Colts.

2nd Quarter, 8:21 remaining. A punt to the goal line appeared to be saved from a sure touchback by the Jets, but field judge Terry Brown, side judge Michael Banks, and back judge Greg Steed conferenced at length at the goal line before ruling touchback. Replay showed that the Jets coverage player put his right hand on the goal line, making the ball “in” the end zone by extension.

End of first half. Other than the replay called in the opening minutes of the first quarter, no other replays were called for. Jets have been penalized 3 times for 15 yards; the Colts have not been penalized.

4th Quarter, :40 remaining. A catch by Jets receiver Braylon Edwards with a fumble and self-recovery was reviewed. Steratore said that Edwards completed the catch with the third foot down, followed then by the fumble.