Football Zebras

Steratore crew defeated in Monday night game

Week 11

by Ben Austro - November 24, 2015November 24, 2015 41

It takes a lot for this space to turn on the crews. This year has been particularly troubling for officiating, although a fair share of the criticism has been a mixture of trumped-up rhetoric and outrage over quick judgement calls without the benefit of replay. Improved technology that offers crisp

Patriots get interference flag on last-second play, seconds later flag picked up

by Ben Austro - November 19, 2013May 4, 2014 27

Game ends on defensive pass inter...ception Post updates: comments from former supervisor Jim Daopoulos and pool report with referee Clete Blakeman With three seconds to go, down by 4, and with Patriots quarterback Tom Brady at the helm, you know that there is pending drama (video). Brady was intercepted in the end zone

Roundtable Week 8: illegal bats in football, Brees’s consecutive false starts

by Ben Austro - November 3, 2013November 3, 2013 0

Football Zebras Roundtable Because of a couple of scheduling conflicts, our Roundtable was delayed. So before we dive into Week 9 action, we are going to take a look at a couple of calls from Week 8 with former NFL officiating supervisors Larry Upson and Jim Daopoulos. We have also quoted their

Dolphins illegal bat puts Patriots on-deck

Calls
Week 8

by Ben Austro - October 28, 2013 13

Week 8: Dolphins at Patriots (video) The Dolphins notified the league that a yet-uncalled new rule probably should have been called in Week 6. In Week 7, the Patriots were penalized by that rule, which the league office made a point of emphasis to the officials. In Week 8, the Patriots

Offenses subject to ‘reasonable time’ rule

by Ben Austro - August 10, 2013August 16, 2013 0

The conspiracy machine got some gas in preseason with the suggestion that officials are given the authority to limit offensive schemes through controlling the pace of the game. In a Wall Street Journal article, a connection was drawn between a new point of emphasis and the offense employed by incoming

Intentional grounding call is 2nd safety by penalty in a Super Bowl

Calls
XLVI

by Ben Austro - February 5, 2012July 30, 2012 0

Pereira: Time to retire infamous tuck rule

News

by Ben Austro - January 11, 2011January 12, 2011 0

It is a rule that rarely comes into play. In fact it is discussed far more often than it actually happens in the game. But the time the so-called Tuck Rule was applied in a snowy Raiders–Patriots game was enough to get fans of all stripes to unite in cause

Commish: QB flag lobbying not an issue

Controversy

by Ben Austro - October 14, 2009 2

In the annual league meeting held in Boston, commissioner Roger Goodell addressed the media on various topics. Of interest here, he was asked about the influence that star quarterbacks might have on the officials. (We will get to his response shortly.) We did not specifically address the star-treatment aspect here, as

Week 4 “Review”: Ref, Zebra Blog wrong; “Amen” not 15 yards, late QB touch can be

by Ben Austro - October 10, 2009October 12, 2009 0

Before we get to the list of items in this week's "Official Review" segment hosted by the NFL head of officiating, we are going to lead with Mike Pereira's assessment of the Jaguars touchdown call that we agreed with. Turns out we were wrong. We relied on misleading information in the determination

“A cheap one”: Whiff of QB flagged for 15

by Ben Austro - October 5, 2009October 26, 2009 0

Week 4: Ravens at Patriots First, there is no video of the play in question online, only the postgame reaction by the Ravens' Ray Lewis. Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs was flagged for low contact with Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. Brady's brief 2008 season—cut short due to a knee injury in the season