Suspending officials is uncommon in NFL

8 known suspensions of officials for on-field incidents The NFL rarely has suspended officials for their conduct on the field; although it is possible that some may have occurred without public knowledge, this list is complete for all reported suspensions. Also, there are two known cases of officials (not included

Don’t fix inadvertent whistle by pretending it never happened

Week 7: Vikings at Giants (video) The Arkansas Association of High School Officials gets it. The NFL does not. If you are an official at any level, may I suggest you print this tweet, cut it out, and laminate it: 1. Clock status 2. Downs 3. Penalty enforcement 4. Whistle control 5.

Safety calls, roughness on QB: Roundtable reviews Week 5 calls

Football Zebras Roundtable We had a few calls this week that were borderline judgement calls. How close were they? Former NFL officiating supervisors Jim Daopoulos and Larry Upson helped us unpack three controversial calls from Week 5. Both Larry and Jim did extensive game video while working in the league office.

Former graders: Split decision on Cruz catch

Football Zebras Roundtable We covered at length the differences between two process-of-the-catch calls from Sunday's games. Lions receiver Calvin Johnson had a touchdown taken away because he bobbled the ball as he went to the ground. Giants receiver Victor Cruz also had lost possession when he dove for the end zone,

Father-son team cover deep in preseason

Back judge Steve Freeman got a rare opportunity on Friday night, and even though it was a meaningless, forgettable preseason game, it is likely an experience he will remember as a highlight of his career. Freeman's son Brad, a field judge in the Southeastern Conference, has been actively scouted by the

NFL alters playoff assignment procedure

The procedure for the assigning officials to playoff games will be slightly different this season. In previous seasons, the league assigned the eight highest ranking crews to the first two rounds of the playoffs, rather than by individual merit. Individual crew members could be swapped out with the next highest ranked

Giants crew confused with penalty at :02

Preseason Week 1: Giants at Jaguars 4th Qtr | :12 | Jaguars 32-31 | NYG ball | 3rd & 3 @ JAX 45 Giants quarterback (wait, let me google it) Ryan Perrilloux completed a pass but was beyond the line of scrimmage, which is a five-yard penalty and requires 10 seconds to