After Further Review: Safety is number 1 priority

Some of the officiating news items from Sunday: A couple of puzzling replay reviews: Mike Carey allowed a catch to stand, despite clear evidence the pass was incomplete, according to our Roundtable experts [Ben Austro, Football Zebras]. Bill Vinovich ruled a player touched a loose ball with his foot while out

Indecisiveness erases big Steelers gain

Roethlisberger: umpire 'thought he saw a trip, but wasn't sure' Week 2: Steelers at Bengals While a third quarter gain of 33 yards by the Steelers was being marched back by a tripping penalty, each replay on ESPN displayed the cringe-inducing conclusion: that wasn't a trip. (There is no video available of

Kickoff 2013: The officials by the numbers

Click the image to enlarge. It is time to kick off the new football season! Here are some numbers for all of the zebra watchers out there. Enjoy! Designed and researched by Ben Austro. Sources: NFL Record and Fact Book (2013, 2008, 2000); Pro-Football-Reference.com (Coleman, Freeman, McKinnely); Football Zebras, "Officiating crews for the

All in the family: NFL referee style

Sunday night was Hochuli ×2 ('Gun and Pistol' night?) Earlier this week, NFL back judge Steve Freeman officiated a game with his son, Brad.  Also this week, Ed Hochuli got to officiate a preseason game with his son, Shawn.  Both Brad Freeman and Shawn Hochuli are part of the developmental program

Catching up: Pereira gives high praise to wild card crews

Former NFL vice president for officiating and current Fox Sports officiating expert, Mike Pereira, gave high marks to the wild card crews.  Pereira says even though the officials had many difficult calls to make, the officials got them right and were not part of the game story. Pereira broke down three

Ridiculous red-flag rule burden on referee

Week 17: Packers at Vikings Fortunately, there are likely only 11 more games where the rule for prohibited coach's challenges is in effect. The Competition Committee is all but certain to modify the rule in the offseason. Basically, the rule has two aspects, which we have already explained in detail. If a

Our playoff predicitions: Steratore ranks high, Wild Cards include Hochuli, Corrente

For a moment here, we will disregard our previous reporting on the playoff assignments (as the league thinks you should) and present our predictions for playoff assignments. We have chosen our assignments for the referee position only, not the entire crew. This year, all officials are assigned on individual merit, and