Football Zebras

2 unusual penalties on the same play: illegal hideout and sideline interference

by Ben Austro - October 19, 2021October 19, 2021 1

The Rams attempted to catch everyone off guard with a quick substitution/fake punt in the first quarter of the game against the Giants. The play eventually wound up confusing everyone watching the game as well. The Fox Sports broadcast crew had to dump out of the replay of the third down

Officially, beards are in this season

by Mark Schultz - December 4, 2020December 4, 2020 3

Have you noticed something different with NFL officials this year? This year, NFL officials have been sporting facial hair and down judge Sarah Thomas is wearing her hair in a ponytail, out the back of an adjustable official's hat. (Up until this season, she wore her hair pinned up under

7 officiating observations for the 2018 season

2018
Calls

by Mark Schultz - January 28, 2019January 28, 2019 1

Dale Shaw (Tennessee Titans) It was another great football season and, for us, there were several officiating stories from 2018. Here are the seven that stood out to me. 1. Hugo Cruz fired In one of the most shocking events of the year, the NFL fired down judge Hugo Cruz in mid-season. This

Back judge Steve Freeman leaves Week 3 game in Atlanta

News
Week 3

by Mark Schultz - September 24, 2018September 25, 2018 0

Back judge Steve Freeman was hurt in Week 3 during the Saints-Falcons game in Atlanta. Freeman is normally on Alex Kemp's crew, but for this week he worked with Walt Anderson's crew in Atlanta and Anderson's normal back judge, Lee Dyer, worked on Kemp's crew. Freeman was hurt on a deep

Father’s Day crews

by Mark Schultz - June 17, 2018June 18, 2018 1

One of the fun parts of being a dad is when a child wants to join the dad in an activity or hobby, or just wants to spend time together. I'm sure NFL officials are happy when their kids want to take up officiating. That happiness and pride, I'm sure,

NFL promotes 2 second-generation referees: Shawn Hochuli and Alex Kemp

by Mark Schultz - March 6, 2018March 6, 2018 2

Fathers have passed the NFL white hat to the sons, one directly and one posthumously. As Football Zebras noted last month, Alex Kemp seemed to be the frontrunner to be promoted to referee upon the retirement of Jeff Triplette. We also noted that back judge Shawn Hochuli was in the mix,

6 CFL officials to take part in NFL preseason

News

by Mark Schultz - June 7, 2017June 7, 2017 0

Embed from Getty Images The Canadian Football League is sending six of its officials to learn NFL officiating this preseason, in exchange for at least 5 NFL officials to work the Canadian preseason. This is the second year of the NFL-CFL Officiating Development Program. The CFL officials taking part in the NFL

3 officials audition to be an NFL referee

News

by Mark Schultz - August 22, 2015August 22, 2015 1

Football Zebras exclusiveThe NFL will audition three officials at the referee position this week. Three current NFL officials will don the white hat for at least one preseason game where the NFL will scout them as potential future referees. Last year, the NFL auditioned three potential officials and John Hussey

Images from Week 7

by Mark Schultz - October 22, 2014October 22, 2014 1

Courtesy of team photographers (Click any image to view as slides.) Courtesy of Getty Images #457508118 / gettyimages.com R Jeff Triplette with Jaguars coach Ron Rivera #457500092 / gettyimages.com BJ Todd Prukop #457518392 / gettyimages.com R John Parry

NFL announces 2014 officials

News

by Mark Schultz - May 22, 2014July 16, 2014 9

This post has been updated to reflect changes in the 2014 officiating staff after the initial announcement. The NFL has announced its 2014 roster of officials (full list below after the jump). The roster features 12 new hires. Earlier we reported that 11 officials were not going to return to the