2016 AFC Championship
Follow us here for rolling coverage of the calls and rules interpretations of the Conference Championship game from Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.
If you have any questions or comments, use the comments section of this post, or tweet us @footballzebras.
Today’s crew is headed by Terry McAulay.
| Yrs | 2016 crew | College | Occupation | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 77 | Terry McAulay | 19 | Louisiana State | college officiating coordinator | |
| U | 49 | Rich Hall | 13 | Boger | Arizona | custom cabinetry |
| HL | 106 | Wayne Mackie | 10 | Hussey | Colgate | director of operations, housing |
| LJ | 9 | Mark Perlman | 16 | Vinovich | Salem | teacher |
| FJ | 3 | Scott Edwards | 18 | Triplette | Alabama | environmental engineer |
| SJ | 41 | Boris Cheek | 21 | Morelli | Morgan State | director of operations and management |
| BJ | 112 | Tony Steratore | 17 | Boger | California (Pa.) | co-owner, supply company |
- Replay: Mike Wimmer
- Alternates: John Parry (R), Mark Steinkerchner (LJ), Rich Martinez (BJ)
Great call by Bj Tony Steratore on catching the receiver going out of bounds and being first to touch on the field of play.
12:42 3rd qtr Defenseless Receiver on #50, Shazier: This is such a bad call it hurts. The NFL has got to get a handle on these calls. You can’t keep punishing the Def for incidental helmet to helmet or helmet first tackles. The defender is moving full speed and the ball carrier is moving full speed. Once the defender commits he can’t change direction. These calls are KILLING FOOTBALL!
I don’t want to see players hurt on intentional illegal hits but PHYSICAL INTIMIDATION is part of the game. You take that away and you have flag football.
Bottom line: Little fast guys will ALWAYS out run bigger stronger guys across the middle. If the bigger stronger guy can’t lay wood to the ball catcher then you get what you had in this game; 400 yds passing by Brady, 300 of it on crossing routes because the defense is scared to hit anyone.
The middle of the field is no more ‘open’ now than it was in the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and 2000’s. However, we are seeing an EXPLOSION in these small slot receivers killing teams with these routes because they don’t get hit. You run that in front of Ray Lewis or Jack Lambert 20 times like the Pats did last night and you get slot receivers who come back to the huddle and say “I don’t wanna run that route any more!”
You have to have balance. You have to have the ‘completion tax’ levied by the defense and paid in pain by the offense or the league is going to die!
You wanna know why ratings and ticket sales etc are down this year. Because LONG TIME fans who understand the game at a high level, like me, HATE 60. 70 or 80 combined points. How freaking boring is that? Up and down the field, running ‘rub routes’ (AKA PICK PLAY BEFORE BELECHIK) to free up small fast guys running crossing routes. No one is running the ball anymore and the stats are just outta control.
For the LOVE OF FOOTBALL, give the defense their best equalizer back. PHYSICAL INTIMIDATION!