• 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)

In Pointer’s article, the trio said they were honored to serve on football’s biggest stage, but from a working perspective, they treat it as any other game. As Austin told his crew before the game, “When we kick off, it’s just 60 minutes of NFL football. Don’t ever forget that.”

It must be very hard to forget, especially since routine procedures like the coin toss require a rehearsal session before the game.

Walt Coleman is the referee today for the annual all-star game from Honolulu.

In order to minimize injuries, the Pro Bowl plays modified rules that protect the players. Basically, pass rushes are shut down, and standard formations are used. The following list is a summary of the rule modifications from the league’s Record and Fact Book:

• The offensive formations must have a tight end and have no more than two receivers on either end. No motion or shifting is allowed.
• The defense must line up in the standard 3–4 formation, evenly spaced, with linebackers in a two-point stance (three-point stance permissible in goal-line situations). Outside linebackers can rush the quarterback in short yardage or inside the 5-yard line.
• Safeties must play man-for-man or with limited zone coverage (3-deep with strong-safety rotating and no 5-deep zones).
• Intentional grounding rules are relaxed when the quarterback throws to the line of scrimmage to avoid a sack.
• On punts, the defense can rush 6 players, 3 per side. On placekicks, the nose tackle can be the 7th rusher.

If the game ends in a tie, they will play an overtime period.

For the first time, players will be permitted to use Twitter on the sideline and will communicate with the fans via the #ProBowl hashtag. However, each bench only has one computer; mobile devices are still not permitted.

Since the game was moved to the off-week prior to the Super Bowl in the 2009 season, the two Super Bowl teams will have their players substituted for by the next highest qualified players at the vacant positions.

4th Quarter | :27 remaining | Patriots 23-20 | Ravens ball | 2nd & 1 @ NE 14 | video

The Ravens, driving for a potential conference-winning touchdown against the Patriots, found themselves a dropped pass short in their effort. They had to settle for a field goal attempt to tie the game, and were denied a shot at destiny on the missed field goal.

On the second-down pass in the end zone, Ravens receiver Lee Evans was not able to secure the catch in the right corner of the end zone. Patriots defensive back Sterling Moore saved the Patriots fortunes by jarring the ball loose, causing the ball to fall incomplete. After the network replayed the incompletion, there was a collective eek from the audience. It is close enough to be reviewed, isn’t it? The replay official determined that it did not warrant another look from referee Alberto Riveron and the call stood.

But should the replay official have challenged the call because this is a pivotal moment in a championship game? Depends not only on who you ask, but when.

NFL spokesman Mike Signora backed up the call made by the replay official:

The ruling on the field of an incomplete pass was confirmed by the Instant Replay assistant, correctly, and as a result, there was no need to stop the game

(As a side note, we refer to the person in the replay booth as the “replay official,” to be consistent with the NFL rule book. All references in the rule book to “replay assistant” were changed in the last offseason, with no reason published at the time. We believe it is to reflect the increased decisions he is required to make after scoring plays and after the two-minute warning.)

Mike Pereira, the Fox Sports rules-interpretation jukebox, gave his assessment on Sunday, via text message to Pro Football Talk, that matched the league response:

Clearly not a catch. Ball coming out before second foot clearly down. . . .  No need to review it because it was clearly incomplete.

(Another side note: this was not posted on Twitter, as Pereira usually does, because of a Twitter brownout yesterday. Or something like that.)

So the 2012 Mike Pereira would disagree with the 2009 Pereira, who was then the vice-president of officiating for the NFL:

Next time it happens, at this point of the game, this big of a play, let’s go ahead and [call for a replay review].

His 2009 doppelgänger was referring to a play near the end of Super Bowl XLIII, when Cardinals quarterback  Kurt Warner fumbled in the late stages of the game, when it looked like it was possible that it was an incomplete pass. No replay review was called, but Pereira acknowledged that it should be standard protocol to double check these things at the end of a game, because the calls are just too crucial.

It appeared that this advice was followed early in the 2009 season (we called it a “critical juncture review clause“). Apparently, it was forgotten. If it was ever committed to internal policy, it has since been retracted.

And, while it doesn’t silence the conspiracy theorists, the replay official did his job and the ruling on the field –  a correct one — stood.

We will be live blogging the calls and rules interpretations from the Giants-49ers game.

If you have any questions or comments, use the comments section of this post, or tweet us @footballzebras.

Today’s crew is headed by Ed Hochuli. His crew contains members from other officiating squads that were rating in the top three this season. The full crew list is at the bottom of this post.

Today’s officials, listed with their regular season crew chief:

• R — #85 Ed Hochuli (22nd year, 20th as referee)
• U — #81 Roy Ellison (9th year, Walt Coleman)
• HL — #28 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)

We will be live blogging the calls and rules interpretations from the Ravens-Patriots game.

If you have any questions or comments, use the comments section of this post, or tweet us @footballzebras.

Today’s crew is headed by Alberto Riveron. His crew contains members from other officiating squads that were rating in the top three this season. The full crew list is at the bottom of this post.

Today’s crew, listed with the referee they worked under in the regular season:

• R — #57 Alberto Riveron (8th year, 4th as referee)
• U — #115 Tony Michalek (10th year, Ron Winter)
• HL — #79 Kent Payne (8th year, Carl Cheffers)
• LJ — #47 Tim Podraza (4th year, Mike Carey)
• FJ — #33 Steve Zimmer (15th year, Riveron)
• SJ — #97 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)

1st Quarter | 1:46 | Giants 10-3 | Packers ball | 1st & 10 @ NYG 39 | video (at 1:21)

We are going to deconstruct the big call from Sunday’s NFC divisional playoff game, not to defend it, but to answer the questions surrounding it and the decisions that were made.

As the Packers were driving to answer a go-ahead touchdown by the Giants  in the first quarter, quarterback Aaron Rodgers completed a pass to receiver Greg Jennings. Jennings turned up field and gained about three yards when the ball came loose.

The loose ball was immediately scooped up by Giants cornerback Kenny Phillips. The play continues live, so Philips runs about 12 yards before going out of bounds.

(1) Keeping the play alive. In the live camera angle and all of the replay angles aired on television, veteran head linesman George Hayward and side judge Larry Rose follow the action as Phillips returns the apparent fumble. The audience was whisked away to commercial, not knowing that a conference developed between the officials.

(2) Post-play discussion. The more that instant replay has become entrenched in the game has lead to a new officiating anomaly: let the play go and sort it out in the end. There is some merit to that approach, as whistles do not have erasers, but a call-by-committee can always be enacted after the fact.

The only other official that could be involved in the play is the back judge, Scott Helverson. His position, unseen in the replays, would be roughly the center of the field, and probably 10 to 20 yards downfield, so that he doesn’t get passed like a stalled car. (There exists an outside  possibility that the field judge could have been involved, but he is patrolling the opposite sideline from the play.)

Probably Helverson saw something that gave him the impression that Jennings had a knee down prior to the fumble, or he would not have tried to appeal to the other two covering officials. In the end, the three officials came to an agreement that the play is down by contact prior to the fumble occurring.

(3) Why not just let replay sort it out? Replay is a tool to correct mistakes, not a crutch to buttress up flaky or indecisive calls. They must make decisions based on their observations in real time, and not what would be convenient for the replay system to sort out. Therefore, an official who, armed only with his observation, must make a decisive call (conferring with others if necessary) and stick with it. All of the officials that get playoff assignments are graded on their decisiveness in making calls, in addition to their on-field accuracy. Also, for an official to rely on the ability for a team to challenge a call deprives that team of one of their precious challenges.

(4) Giants challenge. Giants coach Tom Coughlin saw what we all saw from our favorite football-watching chair: Jennings lost control of the ball prior to being down. The challenge, had it been ruled in favor of the Giants, would have given them the ball, but the 12-yard runback by Phillips would not count, even though the officials originally let the play continue.

(5) Replay review. Up to this point, three officials were involved in the call. Now, referee Bill Leavy, in consultation with the replay official, will intervene on his sole judgement of the video. Leavy is allowed to observe one aspect of the play in one angle, and compare it to another aspect in a different angle. But, he only has 60 seconds to do so.

Remember, Leavy wasn’t covering the play, so some of that 60 seconds goes to getting the first visuals of the tackle.

To rule down by contact, the ball carrier must have a body part other than his hand or foot touching the ground while in possession of the ball. While the ball clearly came out prior to Jennings’ knee hitting, Leavy apparently focused on his shin. These are the angles he was served up:

Leavy should have noticed the position of the ball carrier’s elbow, because that could tell him when the ball was out in angle A and when the shin was down in angle C. The ball definitely came out prior to the shin contacting the ground.

(6) The call. In replay, the rule is that there must be indisputable visual evidence that the call on the field is to be overturned. If Leavy does not piece the angles together in time to make a decision, then he must leave the call as is.

As Leavy enters the field to announce his judgment, Helverson, the back judge, is seen walking with Leavy. Therefore, he must have been part of the original call.

After reviewing the play, the ruling on the field stands.

Had Leavy seen a body part on the ground prior to the ball out, he would have said the call was “confirmed.” Because he said it “stands,” it means that Leavy did not see conclusive evidence or his allotted review time expired.

(7) But what if the play was initially ruled a fumble? If the fumble and the runback were ruled initially, and the Packers challenged, then what? In this hypothetical, Leavy would have likely ruled the same: inconclusive evidence. The Packers would have lost the ball, the Giants would have been entitled to the 12-yard runback, and the Packers would not have had kept their touchdown drive going. It could have been a huge momentum shift in the game.

(8) The league responds. Rather than give a full-throated defense of Leavy, NFL spokeman Greg Aiello e-mailed a tepid response to Pro Football Talk, citing sections of the rulebook.

Referee Bill Leavy conducted the instant replay video review and determined that there was no indisputable visual evidence to warrant reversing the on-field ruling of down by contact.  As a result, the ruling on the field stood.

What was said was true, in a plain, matter-of-fact fashion. What was not said is plainly visible behind the sheer curtain. The league backed up its employee’s judgment call. Nowhere in this response is Carl Johnson, the league’s vice-president of officiating.

Although the league is pretty staunch in its defense of Leavy, they will audit the video from the replay machine. The officiating department has a recording of the 60-second replay session, as well as any communication between the field and the replay booth.

(9) The bottom line. I don’t see any way this can be resolved by changing anything in the replay system. There have been suggestions to move all replay reviews to a central “war room” at the league’s offices in Manhattan, much like the NHL conducts its replay reviews at the home office.

However, it is still up to human judgment which is not without mistake. Who are the supervisors of the officials that make these decisions? They are former referees — referees just like Leavy. So at any given time, the same judgment is rendered.

Also, football is a complex sport. The referee at least has the opportunity to consult with the covering officials prior to viewing a replay. Sometimes there are many aspects of a replay reversal that need to be announced, which could lead to a misleading description if the decision is relayed to the official over the phone. It would be like taking down driving directions without paper – and 70,000 people looking at you.

But, clearly, the wrong call was made, and thankfully it did not result in a change of fortune in a playoff game.

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.

• 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)

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.