Preseason games not mundane for officials

Crews need the preseason prep Dolphins coach Joe Philbin has a discussion with Tom Hill, John Parry (132), and Scott Edwards during the 2013 Hall of Fame Game. Even the most rabid fan of the NFL will admit that watching a preseason game from start to finish is a chore.  The first string

Umpire position moved starting with Hall of Fame game

The NFL has ramped up its policy on avoiding concussions, and the policy has not excluded the referees. With high speed collisions involving the umpire position, the NFL has permanently moved the umpire to the offensive backfield, nine years after a pilot program of the switch was tried in the

NFL APPROVES EXTRA-INNINGS OT

1st major modification in league history Yes, that headline is screaming. And for good reason. The NFL now can't simply resolve a tie game much like Major League Baseball (if necessary, play till 5 a.m. to resolve .006  percentage points in the standings), the NHL (after five minutes, go to a

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

Head of refs announces new mechanics in wake of administrative errors

This point from the weekly "Official Review" segment deserved a post as a newsworthy item in its own right. Mike Pereira, the league's vice-president of officiating, addressed three critical administrative errors in Week 10, which we discussed in length. (video, discussion of new mechanics at 6:10) One of the errors has