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John Parry, who headed his crew in the epic Saints-49ers playoff game on Saturday, is headed to Indianapolis to serve as the crew chief in Super Bowl XLVI.

As we noted on Sunday, we said he “won” the weekend amongst a field of solid officiating in most of this year’s playoff games. He (and his crew) was our pick the best of the divisional playoffs, since they maintained tight control of a game that see-sawed back and forth. One questionable call could have easily affected the outcome of the game.

Here is the crew that Parry will be leading, with the regular-season crews each official belongs to:

• R — #132 John Parry (12th year, 5th as referee)*
• U — #124 Carl Paganelli (13th year, Jerome Boger)
• HL — #24 Tom Stabile (17th year, Scott Green)
• LJ — #108 Gary Arthur (15th year, Ron Winter)*
• FJ — #60 Gary Cavaletto (9th year, Tony Corrente)*
• SJ — #125 Laird Hayes (17th year, Carl Cheffers)*
• BJ — #112 Tony Steratore (12th year, Boger)

*Four officials have experience in this year’s playoffs. Assigned to games in the Wild Card round were Arthur (Steelers-Broncos), Cavaletto (Lions-Saints), and Hayes (Falcons-Giants); and Parry is the aforementioned divisional playoff game.

There are five alternate officials also assigned to the Super Bowl to enter the game in case of an injury. They include Alberto Riverón (R), Bill Schuster (U from Gene Steratore’s crew), Wayne Mackie (HL, also from Steratore’s crew), Don Carlsen (SJ from Pete Morelli’s crew), Greg Wilson (BJ from Corrente’s crew). All of the alternates had assignments in this year’s playoffs, including Riverón’s assignment to the AFC Championship.

Alberto Riverón will head an “all-star” crew in the AFC Championship on Sunday between the Ravens and Patriots. The officials getting the nod, listed here with the head referee of their regular season crews:

• R — #57 Alberto Riverón (8th year, 4th as referee)
• U — #115 Tony Michalek (10th year, Ron Winter)
• HL — Kent Payne (8th year, Carl Cheffers)
• LJ — #47 Tim Podraza (4th year, Mike Carey)
• FJ — #33 Steve Zimmer (15th year, Riverón)
• SJ — Tom Hill (13th year, Winter)
• BJ — #61 Keith Ferguson (12th year, Leavy
• Alternates — Walt Anderson (#66, R), Terry Brown (#43, FJ from Terry McAulay’s crew)

Podraza’s assignment goes against the prevailing guidelines for conference championship assignments. Typically, an official must have been in the NFL for five years before being assigned to a title game.
Veteran referee Ed Hochuli will be in San Francisco to officiate the Giants-49ers matchup for the NFC title. Hochuli was in last year’s AFC Championship game.

• R — #85 Ed Hochuli (22nd year, 20th as referee)
• U — #81 Roy Ellison (9th year, Walt Coleman)
• HL — Mark Hittner (15th year, Hochuli)
• LJ — #35 John Hussey (10th year, Pete Morelli)
• FJ — #4 Craig Wrolstad (9th year, Hochuli)
• SJ — #39 Don Carlsen (23rd year, Morelli)
• BJ — #46 Perry Paganelli (14th year, John Parry)
• Alternates — Jeff Triplette (#42, R), Jimmy DeBell (#58, SJ from Alberto Riverón’s crew)

After analyzing the wild card and divisional playoff assignments, we have mapped out our predictions for who is officiating this year’s conference championship games: Ed Hochuli and Walt Anderson.

Keep in mind, this isn’t based upon official information; it is purely speculative. And, please, no wagering.

Usually this is readily apparent after the first two playoff weekends, as the head referees would be absent while their regular crew officiates. This year, we think that those teams broke apart too much. In Anderson’s case, his entire crew was dispersed in the first two rounds and the Pro Bowl.

Hochuli officated the AFC Championship game last season with two additional members of his crew. This year there are three other members of his crew eligible to serve in the conference championship.

Anderson officiated last year’s Super Bowl and, therefore, cannot officiate the big game in consecutive years.

The following officials were substituted off of their regular crews (and are not known to be injured) during the wild card and divisional games. This is usually a sign for promotion to the conference championships, although we note that there are three side judge assignments. This possibly means that one is going to be on the sidelines as an alternate in case another official is injured during the game.

• U — Darrell Jenkins (Bill Leavy’s crew)
• U — Tony Michalek (Ron Winter)
• HL — Kent Payne (Carl Cheffers)
• LJ — John Hussey (Pete Morelli)
• SJ — Mike Weatherford (Gene Steratore)
• SJ — Don Carlsen (Morelli)
• SJ — Tom Hill (Winter)
• BJ — Perry Paganelli (Parry)
• BJ — Keith Ferguson (Leavy)

The positions from Hochuli’s crew that qualify for a championship game assignment:

• HL — Mark Hittner
• FJ — Craig Wrolstad
• BJ — Don Carey

Once again: this is pure speculation. No news here.

We know now the officials that are going to officiate the 2011 Pro Bowl in Honolulu on January 29. In parentheses is the regular season crew each official worked with.

• R — Walt Coleman (23rd year, 17th as referee)
• U — Butch Hannah (13th year, Walt Anderson)
• HL — Steve Stelljes (10th year, Anderson)
• LJ — Jeff Bergman (20th year, Jeff Triplette)
• FJ — Doug Rosenbaum (11th year, Jerome Boger)
• SJ — Michael Banks (10th year, Terry McAuley)
• BJ — Steve Freeman (11th year, Triplette)
• Alternate — Greg Bradley (3rd year, HL from McAuley’s crew)

Credit: Football-refs.com

Updated 1/12/12: Replaced post to include full crews.

We now have the full crews for this weekend’s games. For the most part, the regular season crews are intact. Those that have been substituted are likely due those officials being promoted to a conference championship assignment (although, there are other factors).

Saints at 49ers (Saturday, 4:30 pm ET)

• R — #132 John Parry (12th year, 5th as referee)
• U — #64 Dan Ferrell (9th year)
• HL — #74 Derick Bowers (9th year)
• LJ — #59 Rusty Baynes (2nd year)
• FJ — #3 Scott Edwards (13th year)
• SJ — #7 Keith Washington (4th year)
• BJ — #2 Billy Smith (18th year)*
• Alternates — Mike Spanier (#90, LJ from Walt Coleman’s crew), Kirk Dornan (#6, BJ from Mike Carey’s crew)

Parry officiated a Week 5 game when the Saints were on the road playing the Panthers and the Thanksgiving night game that the 49ers played in Baltimore against the Ravens. Last year’s Packers-Falcons divisional playoff game was officiated by Parry’s crew.

*Substitution: Smith is substituting for Perry Paganelli from Walt Anderson’s crew.

Broncos at Patriots (Saturday, 8 pm ET)

• R — #114 Gene Steratore (9th year, 6th as referee)
• U — #129 Bill Schuster (12th year)
• HL — #106 Wayne Mackie (5th year)
• LJ — #107 Ron Marinucci (15th year)
• FJ — #25 Bob Waggoner (15th year)
• SJ — #116 Mike Weatherford (10th year)*
• BJ — #105 Dino Paganelli (6th year)
• Alternates — Carl Paganelli (#124, U from Jerome Boger’s crew), Greg Steed (#12, BJ from Alberto Riverón’s crew)

Steratore presided over the Week 5 game when the Broncos hosted the Chargers. Last year, he and his crew officiated the Jets-Colts wild card playoff game. Dino Paganelli was an alternate for last year’s Super Bowl.

*Substitution: Larrew is substituting for Mike Weatherford from Jerome Boger’s crew.

Texans at Ravens (Sunday, 1 pm ET)

• R — #135 Pete Morelli (15th year, 9th as referee)
• U — #71 Ruben Fowler (6th year)
• HL — #26 Mark Baltz (23rd year)
• LJ — #18 Byron Boston (17th year)*
• FJ — #89 Jon Lucivansky (3rd year)
• SJ — #95 James Coleman (7th year)*
• BJ — #75 Rob Vernatchi (8th year)
• Alternates — Paul King (#121, U from Terry McAuley’s crew), Barry Anderson (#20, FJ from Jeff Triplette’s crew).

Morelli officiated a Week 5 game when the Texans hosted the Raiders. Last year, Morelli and his crew officiated a wild card playoff game (Packers at Eagles).

*Substitutions: Boston and Coleman are substituting from Walt Anderson’s crew for John Hussey and Don Carlsen.

Giants at Packers (Sunday, 4:30 pm)

• R — #127 Bill Leavy (17th year, 11th as referee)
• U — #44 Jeff Rice  (10th year)*
• HL — #54 George Hayward (21st year)
• LJ — #9 Mark Perlman (11th year)
• FJ — #63 Jim Quirk (2nd year)
• SJ — #128 Larry Rose (15th year)*
• BJ — #93 Scott Helverson (9th year)*

Leavy has not officiated for either team this season. Last season, Leavy and his crew also had a divisional playoff assignment (Jets at Patriots).

Substitutions: Rice is substituting for Darrell Jenkins from Jeff Triplette’s crew. Rose and Helverson are substituting from Scott Green’s crew for Keith Parham and Keith Ferguson. (Parham is a rookie, and therefore ineligible for a postseason assignment.)

Quirk is serving in his first year of postseason eligibility.

Most notably, this year’s crews for the Wild Card Playoffs did not qualify for a postseason assignment last season.

Bengals at Texans (Saturday, 4:30 pm)

Referee Clete Blakeman heads his crew in his first year of postseason eligibility as a crew chief.

• R — #34 Clete Blakeman (4th year, 2nd as referee)
• U — #102 Bruce Stritesky (6th year)*
• HL — #36 Tony Veteri (20th year)
• LJ — #45 Jeff Seeman (10th year)
• FJ — #82 Buddy Horton (13th year)
• SJ — #78 Greg Meyer (10th year)
• BJ — #111 Terrence Miles (4th year)
• Alternates — Tom Barnes (#55, LJ from Scott Green’s crew), Lee Dyer (#27, BJ from Terry McAuley’s crew)

*Substitution: Stritesky from Green’s crew is substituting for Garth DeFelice, who is injured.

Blakeman’s crew was in Houston for a Week 4 game between the Steelers and Texans.

Lions at Saints (Saturday, 8 pm)

Referee Tony Corrente overcame huge obstacles this season, most significantly having being treated for an illness late in the season causing him to miss three weeks. He and his crew received this NFC Wild Card Playoff assignment.

• R — #99 Tony Corrente (17th year, 14th as referee)
• U — #31 Chad Brown (20th year)*
• HL — #5 John McGrath (10th year)
• LJ — #130 Darryll Lewis (13th year)
• FJ — #60 Gary Cavaletto (9th year)
• SJ — #56 Allen Baynes (4th year)
• BJ — #119 Greg Wilson (4th year)
• Alternates — Terry McAulay (#77, R), David Wyant (#16, SJ from Jeff Triplette’s crew)

*Substitution: Brown substitutes from Mike Carey’s crew for Fred Bryan. Bryan is ineligible to work a conference championship or Super Bowl, as he is in his third season.

In last year’s Super Bowl, Brown officiated and Cavaletto was assigned as an alternate. Corrente officiated in last year’s Pro Bowl, with the 2009 AFC Conference Championship being his last playoff game.

Corrente’s crew was in New Orleans in Week 3 for a Texans-Saints game and officiated the Week 2 game between the Chiefs and Lions.

Falcons at Giants (Sunday, 1 pm)

Referee Carl Cheffers heads to the Meadowlands with his regular season crew, with a couple of substitutions.

• R — #12 Carl Cheffers (12th year, 4th as referee)
• U — #96 Undrey Wash (12th year)
• HL — #110 Phil McKinnely (9th year)*
• LJ — #100 Tom Symonette (8th year)
• FJ — #80 Greg Gautreaux (10th year)*
• SJ — #125 Laird Hayes (17th year)
• BJ — #30 Todd Prukop (3rd year)
• Alternates — Scott Dawson (#70, U from Alberto Riverón’s crew), Mark Steinkerchner (#84, LJ from Terry McAuley’s crew)

*Substitutions: McKinnely substitutes from Jeff Triplette’s crew for Kent Payne; Gautreaux substitutes from Walt Coleman’s crew for Jimmy Buchanan. Buchannan is ineligible to work a conference championship or Super Bowl, as he is in his third season.

Cheffers’ crew did not have a postseason assignment last year; he last officiated a postseason game in the divisional playoff round in 2009, which was his first year of eligibility as a crew chief.

This crew worked the Week 2 game between the Eagles and Falcons.

Steelers at Broncos (Sunday, 4:30 pm)

Referee Ron Winter, who was an alternate for last year’s AFC Conference Championship, has the weekend’s final Wild Card matchup.

• R — #14 Ron Winter (17th year, 14th as referee)
• U — #49 Rich Hall (8th year)*
• HL — #52 Julian Mapp (3rd year)
• LJ — #108 Gary Arthur (15th year)
• FJ — #88 Scott Steenson (21st year)
• SJ — #62 Ronald Torbert* (2nd year)
• BJ — #83 Richard Reels (19th year)
• Alternates — Ed Camp (#134, HL from Walt Coleman’s crew), Dyrol Prioleau (#109, FJ from Scott Green’s crew)

*Substitutions: Hall fills in for Tony Michalek and Torbert is substituting for Tom Hill. Both substitutes are from Ed Hochuli’s crew. Torbert is a second-year official, so this is his first year of postseason eligibility.

Hall was an alternate at last year’s Super Bowl.

Winter’s last postseason game worked was a divisional playoff in 2009.

Winter’s crew officiated away games for both teams: a Week 6 Jaguars-Steelers game and a Week 10 Broncos-Chiefs game.

The NFL released its schedule Sunday night for the 12 teams qualifying for the playoffs. We are waiting this week for the assignments for the game officials.

During the season, every official is graded on every single play for the calls that they made. An incorrect call or a missed call is calculated in an overall average score of accuracy. Two years ago, a segment of NFL.com showed the process of evaluating a single play, which involved shuttling the tape 25 times for generic incompletion (video, beginning  at 2:10, and our coverage).

Officials are also graded on written tests of mock plays. The written tests and game accuracy are the objective criteria for ranking the officials.

Separately, each official and the crews as a whole are evaluated in other areas. In school, this was part of the “class participation” grade that changes a B+ into an A–. These subjective factors include the pace of the game (placing an emphasis on getting the right call without game-delaying conferences), professionalism, and decisiveness. Injuries, particularly late-season ones, can be a consideration as well.

The officiating department will then take all the evaluations to determine their playoff assignments under the following guidelines:

• The top eight crews, or roughly half of the officiating staff, will be assigned a game in the wild card or divisional playoff rounds. Each game will also have two alternates assigned to enter the game in case of injury. Alternates are generally placed from crews that did not make the playoff cut.
• Any officials who are in their rookie year with the league will be replaced with an official from another crew. Similarly, a head referee cannot officiate in his first year after promotion to the crew chief, but he is eligible to be an alternate for the playoffs.
• Although unlikely, an official can be replaced on his regular crew if his regular season grade is too low.
• The top three officials at each position will officiate the conference championship games and the Super Bowl. However, an official must have been selected to a playoff game in a previous season and have five seasons’ experience to qualify. In addition, for the Super Bowl he must have also officated a conference championship game.
• Officials in the conference championship games do not serve on a wild card or divisional playoff crew. Those that are elevated to the conference championships are replaced on their regular season crew.
• Super Bowl officials do not officiate in the conference championships, but they can work the first two rounds of the playoffs.
• The league avoids assigning an official to consecutive Super Bowls.

Sunday, Jan. 1

• Buccaneers at Falcons: Scott Green
• Ravens at Bengals: Tony Corrente
• Steelers at Browns: Alberto Riverón
• Lions at Packers:  Walt Coleman
• Colts at Jaguars: John Parry
• Titans at Texans:  Ron Winter
• 49ers at Rams:  Jeff Triplette
• Jets at Dolphins:  Jerome Boger
• Bears at Vikings:  Mike Carey
• Bills at Patriots: Bill Leavy
• Panthers at Saints:  Ed Hochuli
• Redskins at Eagles: Carl Cheffers
• Seahawks at Cardinals: Gene Steratore
• Chargers at Raiders: Clete Blakeman
• Chiefs at Broncos: Pete Morelli
• Cowboys at Giants: Walt Anderson

Off this week: Terry McAuley

Credit: Football-refs.com

Thursday, Dec. 15

• Jaguars at Falcons Ron Winter

Saturday, Dec. 17

• Cowboys at Buccaneers: Terry McAulay

Sunday, Dec. 18

• Dolphins at Bills: John Parry
• Seahawks at Bears: Ed Hochuli (Tony Corrente’s crew)
• Titans at Colts: Pete Morelli
• Packers at Chiefs: Gene Steratore
• Bengals at Rams: Jerome Boger
• Saints at Vikings: Walt Anderson
• Redskins at Giants: Alberto Riverón
• Panthers at Texans” Jeff Triplette
• Lions at Raiders: Bill Leavy
• Jets at Eagles: Clete Blakeman
• Browns at Cardinals: Scott Green
• Patriots at Broncos: Mike Carey
• Ravens at Chargers: Carl Cheffers

Monday, Dec. 19

• Steelers at 49ers: Walt Coleman

Credit: Football-refs.com

Tony Corrente sat out a second straight week due to illness. We hope to have more information next week. Ed Hochuli worked the Thursday night game with Corrente’s crew, in addition to being scheduled on Sunday.

Scott Green returns after a three-week absence due to a knee injury. Look for him on Sunday Night Football.

Bill Leavy returns to the city of Seattle for the first time since Super Bowl XL. Leavy admitted to “kicking” a few calls in the game, and it wasn’t until this season that Leavy was scheduled for a Seahawks game.

Thursday, Dec. 8

• Browns at Steelers: Ed Hochuli (Tony Corrente’s crew)

Sunday, Dec. 11

• Texans at Bengals: Ed Hochuli
• Vikings at Lions: John Parry
• Raiders at Packers: Pete Morelli
• Saints at Titans: Mike Carey
• Eagles at Dolphins: TBA, Ron Winter or Alberto Riverón
• Chiefs at Jets: Terry McAulay
• Patriots at Redskins: Jeff Triplette
• Falcons at Panthers: Walt Anderson
• Buccaneers at Jaguars: Jerome Boger
• Cots at Ravens: Clete Blakeman
• Bears at Broncos: Carl Cheffers
• 49ers at Falcons: TBA, Ron Winter or Alberto Riverón
• Bills at Chargers: Gene Steratore
• Giants at Cowboys: Scott Green

Monday, Dec. 12

• Rams at Seahawks: Bill Leavy

Credit: Football-refs.com