It seems strange today, but NFL officials used to fire a starter's pistol to end each quarter. It's a mechanic that dated back to the start of pro football up until the NFL discontinued the practice starting in 1994. When the NFL was in its infancy and up through the 1960s,
Tag: Bill Belichick
NFL loses credibility in assigning replacement officials
The "blooper reel" of funny, frustrating, and exasperating NFL replacement official mistakes was very extensive going into Monday Night Football in Week 3. In one call, the "Fail Mary" smashed the blooper reel with a granite rock of mayhem, bewilderment, chaos, frustration, and questions about the quality of the product
Cheffers addresses Belichick timeout
Week 3: Patriots at Bills Not much information here, but when a referee gives a pool report to the media, we report it here. The Bills scored a late-fourth-quarter touchdown that was reversed on replay. As a result of the reversal, the status of the clock was also reversed from stopped (on the touchdown
Hochuli without primetime microphone, may be on defense for scoreboard peek
Week 15: Packers at Patriots Referee Ed Hochuli won't have the benefit of his informative public-address announcements to defend a flag in the second quarter of the Sunday night game. Mike Reiss of ESPNBoston.com reports a helmet-to-helmet hit by Patriots cornerback Devin McCourty on Packers tight end Andrew Quarless was penalized 20 to