2020

Super Bowl LV photo gallery

by Mark Schultz - 0

Final one of the year! With thanks to team photographers and Getty Images, here is the Super Bowl LV crew on the field. From Getty Images: From team photographers: Sarah Thomas (Kansas City Chiefs)Rusty Baynes (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)Dino Paganelli (center) with James Coleman in the foreground (Tampa Bay Buccaneers).Sarah Thomas (Kansas City

4 officiating observations from Super Bowl LV

by Mark Schultz - 5

We made it. No canceled games (although we did have Tuesday and Wednesday Football this year!). While Super Bowl LV was far from a classic, competitive game, fans of the zebras can stayed engaged until the final gun. Here are my officiating thoughts, written even before the vaccum sucked up all the

Super Bowl LV liveblog: Chiefs vs. Buccaneers

by Football Zebras staff - 1

Follow us here through the game for our live coverage of the calls and rules interpretations of today’s Super Bowl from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.  Carl Cheffers is the referee for Super Bowl LV. His all-star crew, with alternates shown in shaded rows, includes:       Yrs 2020 crew College Occupation Prev. Playoff Prev. SB R 51 Carl Cheffers 21   California-Irvine sales manager 5 WC,

5 Super Bowl officiating odds and ends

by Mark Schultz - 1

Let's dig down into the Super Bowl LV crew and see how it stacks up historically to Super Bowl officials. 1. Roster history In the 101-year history of the NFL, more than 1,100 people have officiated at least one NFL game. In 55 Super Bowls, there have been 366 officiating slots open. 206

Sarah Thomas is set to make history again. But did the league rush to get to the milestone?

by Mark Schultz and Ben Austro - 4

Sarah Thomas has blazed a trail in 25 football seasons. She started calling football in her native Mississippi in 1996. This Sunday, she officiates the biggest game of the year, Super Bowl LV. When Thomas, 47, was in high school, she didn't play football, but she was a star athlete. She

Instant replay mistake in AFC Championship Game confirmed

by Mark Schultz - 1

Sources tell Football Zebras that the NFL has internally acknowledged that replay incorrectly reviewed whether or not Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen stepped out of bounds before he threw a pass in Sunday's AFC Championship Game. https://streamable.com/c7ex0s Referee Bill Vinovich ruled that Allen had stepped out of bounds before he threw the

5 observations from championship weekend, 2020

by Mark Schultz - 2

We've made it all the way through the conference championships, and here are my officiating impressions from the weekend. 1. Umpire hustle https://streamable.com/38ntps Both Barry Anderson and Ramon George showed lots of hustle this weekend. It is hard to see in snippets of them running through the frame, but experienced zebra-watchers could tell