Coronavirus Pandemic

9 officiating stories of the 2020 season

by Mark Schultz - January 5, 2021January 5, 2021 2

It has been a very interesting season. While enjoyable, I hope we never experience one like it again. As we gear up for the playoffs, here is what stood out to me as I zebra watched this fall and early winter. 1. We made it! Frankly, I never thought we'd have a full

Referee Clay Martin hospitalized

Coronavirus Pandemic

by Ben Austro - January 2, 2021January 3, 2021 2

Referee Clay Martin, who entered quarantine two weeks ago prior to a Monday night game he was scheduled to officiate, has been hospitalized in Tulsa, Okla., near his hometown. Martin has been on the league's covid list, according to a report on Dec. 21 in the Tulsa World, after he was

An official may be promoted to referee as part of Week 17 contingency plan

by Cameron Filipe - December 29, 2020December 29, 2020 0

Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'g32wrxEpS0JjbolVPZ7COQ',sig:'PN037JakPejYi3uzCvLEexlcA0q68WC35HUm9lKKRlo=',w:'594px',h:'392px',items:'598595836',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })}); As we approach the conclusion of a one-of-a-kind regular season, we still may not have seen the craziest measures on the officiating front yet. The NFL has a contingency plan in place to promote an official to the referee position for the Week

With a thin bench, the NFL hopes to have full crews for the final weeks of the season

by Mark Schultz - December 14, 2020December 14, 2020 0

NFL teams have no more bye weeks for the rest of the 2020 season. That means only one crew will be on a bye week in Week 17 (16 games, 17 crews). With covid-19 a constant threat, the NFL has to be crossing its fingers that full crews of seven will be

NBC garbles Carl Cheffers penalty announcements to prevent profanity from airing

by Mark Schultz - November 24, 2020November 25, 2020 2

The NFL is doing its best to play a full season during the covid-19 pandemic. One of the ways the league can get games in is to play in near-empty stadiums. While it is a surreal sight, it also presents challenges for TV sound technicians. In 2020, when referees open their mics

Officials can now flag coaches for not wearing a mask

by Mark Schultz - October 10, 2020October 10, 2020 0

The NFL has given officials the authority to penalize coaches who "approach them in an innappropriate way" without a face covering, 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct. This follows a Week 3 complaint by the NFL Referees Association that Baltimore Ravens coach, John Harbaugh, pulled his mask down and got in line

NFL will not issue covid-19 forfeits, at least not directly

by Ben Austro - October 7, 2020November 27, 2020 0

Harsh sanctions could be handed down to teams that flout the NFL's coronavirus policies as outlined in a memo distributed to teams today. As the first three weeks of the season went as smoothly as could be expected during a pandemic, Week 4 spun into chaos as two games were

Electronic whistles too quiet for stand-alone option

by Mark Schultz - October 1, 2020October 1, 2020 0

In order to prevent the spread of covid-19 through the air, the NFL and the NCAA wants its officials to wear a mask as much as possible. This means the officials have to modify their whistle technique. So, this year many officials are using electronic whistles (you can see the whistle

Al Riveron back at work after recovering from covid-19

by Mark Schultz - September 20, 2020September 20, 2020 0

Al Riveron, senior vice president, in charge of centralized replay on game day, missed Week 1 due to covid-19. ESPN's Adam Schefter reports Riveron is back in the Art McNally Game Day Center for today's games. Russell Yurk, vice president of replay, and three assistants were handling replay challenges in Week 1. We