Author: Mark Schultz

Mark Schultz is a high school football official, freelance writer and journalist. He first became interested in officiating when he was six years old, was watching a NFL game with his father and asked the fateful question, "Dad, what are those guys in the striped shirts doing?"

5 officiating observations from Wild Card weekend

by Mark Schultz - 0

Six wild card games in three days, including a triple header one day! Whew! Six crews, 42 on field officials, and lots of calls. Here are a few thoughts about the weekend. 1. Mistakes happen no matter the experience The Raiders-Bengals game featured an erroneous whistle (formerly called an inadvertent whistle). While

7 officiating observations from the 2021 season

by Mark Schultz - 1

Commentary by Mark Schultz We made it through another season, and here are the officiating related things I noticed during the 18-week regular season. Expedited replay is a success I was skeptical at first, but once the bugs got worked out, the "replay assistance rule" turned into a valuable officiating tool this year. In

A shocking 3 officials miss all or parts of 3 games in Week 17

by Mark Schultz - 1

In an unprecedented situation, three NFL officiating crews worked all or part of three games with six-person crews. To the best of our memories, we cannot recall two crews working an official down on one day, let alone three. Hochuli crew starts with six Down judge Ed Camp did not start Giants-Bears

Let them talk! We need detailed referee announcements

by Mark Schultz - 0

Over the years, we've chronicled the evolution of the referee microphone, from it's humble beginnings to it being used as a valuable teaching and explaining tool. While some people might have snickered or rolled their eyes at long-winded announcements, they could not deny they knew what happened and why the officials