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

R Ron Winter retires after 19 seasons

Football Zebras exclusive Football Zebras has learned that Ron Winter will not be returning for the 2014 season, according to several sources. Winter is the sixth official to retire at the conclusion of the 2013 season and the second from the referee position. Those six retiring officials all worked in the final

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.

Green crew should’ve shut down ugly play

Saints at Falcons (video) This was a downright sloppy play by Scott Green's crew on Thursday night no matter how you look at it, even though the final ruling on the play was correct. Falcons running back Michael Turner seemed to be stopped and then lost the ball. (This part is correct,

Officials need to own up to mistakes

There is no worse feeling for a football official than when they blow a call.  An official would rather be knocked over by Brian Urlacher at full speed than miss a call.  And in officiating, the worst call one can make is to blow an inadvertent whistle.  An inadvertent whistle (IW)