Rubrics coup: How are playoff assignment procedures different under Blandino?

With one round of the playoffs in the books and the second round assignments trickling out, it seems that we are, again, grasping at the true qualification criteria for playoff officials. In September, USA Today reporter Jarrett Bell interviewed the vice-president of officiating Dean Blandino, who revealed his process for evaluating

NFL revamps playoff assignment system

Officials to be in dark about their overall grades Jarrett Bell of USA Today is reporting on what appears to be a drastic shift in the procedures for playoff officiating assignments.  Vice president of officiating Dean Blandino tells Bell the officiating office will place less emphasis on the grading process: We've tried

Our playoff predicitions: Steratore ranks high, Wild Cards include Hochuli, Corrente

For a moment here, we will disregard our previous reporting on the playoff assignments (as the league thinks you should) and present our predictions for playoff assignments. We have chosen our assignments for the referee position only, not the entire crew. This year, all officials are assigned on individual merit, and

NFL denies playoff assignments set

The NFL is denying the Football Zebras.com report that the playoff assignments for the officials have already been decided. "Postseason assignments have not yet been determined," said NFL vice president of football communications Michael Signora. "The evaluation and grading process continues for Week 17 games. Once that process has concluded, assignments

NFL alters playoff assignment procedure

The procedure for the assigning officials to playoff games will be slightly different this season. In previous seasons, the league assigned the eight highest ranking crews to the first two rounds of the playoffs, rather than by individual merit. Individual crew members could be swapped out with the next highest ranked

League reboots search for new VP of refs

It is not exactly America's Got Talent, but finding the new vice president of officiating is turning out to be one tough audition. Peter King of SI.com is reporting that the league is restarting its process to find a replacement for current officeholder Mike Pereira. Pereira announced on the NFL Network