Good whistle discipline is vital to good officiating

Referee Scott Novak and umpire Ramon George faced a difficult and potentially dangerous play in Week 14: a fumble scramble turned into a surprising touchdown run for the Miami Dolphins. https://streamable.com/gshb65 There a few mechanics things to unpack here. See leather! When there's a fumble and the ball disappears under a pile of several

Travis Kelce loses ball in slowest fumble ever

#460119810 / gettyimages.com Week 14: Chiefs at Cardinals (video) Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has a reception with the ball popping out after he is down. The replay review reversed it on a really tight observation, but correct, nonetheless. The key is when Kelce loses control of the ball, because a ball

Leavy hits Steelers with 3 questionable calls

A series of calls in the second quarter by Bill Leavy's crew were questionable at best. Non-restrictive pass interference. A deep incomplete pass was flagged for defensive pass interference, despite a lack of contact that restricted the wide receiver. The penalty gave the Giants 41 extra yards on their touchdown drive.

Anatomy of a replay gone wrong

NFC Divisional Playoff: Giants at Packers 1st Quarter | 1:46 | Giants 10-3 | Packers ball | 1st & 10 @ NYG 39 | video (at 1:21) We are going to deconstruct the big call from Sunday's NFC divisional playoff game, not to defend it, but to answer the questions surrounding it

Leavy’s empty-hand ruling close. Correct?

Week 13: Falcons at Texans 1st Quarter | 8:24 remaining | no score | Texans ball | 3rd & 7 @ ATL 14 | video Well, this one is weird, to say the least. Texans quarterback T.J. Yates throws an apparent incomplete pass while he is being hit. As the ball rolls without

Bouncing fumble near sideline is tight call

Week 3: Redskins at Cowboys 1st quarter | 2:09 remaining | video. It was like threading a needle, but the Redskins very carefully recovered a Cowboys fumble near the sideline. Good collaborative call from line judge Adrian Hill (#29) and field judge Craig Wrolstad on the initial call. It wasn't until

Saturday’s Wild Card officiating

Saints at Seahawks Walt Coleman is the referee, heading up Terry McAulay's crew. First half. No replay reviews. Saints have 4 penalties for 18 yards, Seahawks 3/14, no penalties declined. 4th Quarter, 3:38 remaining. On the amazing touchdown run by Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch, did quarterback Matt Hasselbeck throw an illegal block

Clock may be reviewable for ’09 playoffs

Usually we will give a complete rundown of the "Official Review" segment from the NFL officiating department, but we wanted to advance the news out of that segment to its own post first. A tip-off to a rare midseason rule change was dropped as vice-president of officiating Mike Pereira (video) was