NFL officials have thin regular-season bench

Swing officials, double-booking and bye weekends fill any gapsThe first weekend of NFL games featured a serious injury to one of the officials, when line judge Gary Arthur was hit from behind and suffered a broken collar bone, nine broken ribs, and a partially collapsed lung. It was one of

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

Week 1 referee assignments

Ron Winter will have his crew on the first game of the Monday night doubleheader. Terry McAulay has the week off. Gene Steratore is confirmed for this game, after missing the entire preseason due to surgery on his Achilles tendon. Steratore's last game was Dec. 22. Assignments were compiled with the assistance

Week 11 referee assignments

This week, Walt Coleman, Scott Green and Alberto Riveron are off. Mike Carey is also off, but the rest of his crew is working with Bill Vinovich. We have confirmed that there are two injury substitutions to report this week: Head linesman George Hayward (on Bill Leavy's crew) left the game last Sunday

HL Hayward injured in Bills-Patriots game

  Head linesman George Hayward had to leave Sunday's Bills-Patriots game with an injury near the end of the third quarter. We asked the league when our own Mark Schultz noticed that one official was missing in one of the highlight videos from the game. They confirmed there was an injury,

Blakeman crew cool under chaos

Week 13: Lions at Saints Clete Blakeman's crew officiated a game that could have easily become uncontrollable at any moment. It didn't help that they were shorthanded. Umpire Garth DeFelice left the game midway through the first quarter with a foot injury. That required the crew to readjust their mechanics to officiate

R Scott Green sidelined with injury

EXCLUSIVE Zebra Blog has learned that referee Scott Green has been on leave the past two weeks with an injury. Gene Steratore substituted for Green in Week 11 and Jeff Triplette will head Green's crew today. A league source has indicated that Green has an unspecified injury, with no word on

Week 1 open forum, assignments

We're back. If you see a call from Week 1 that deserves our attention, add it to the comments section of this post. Referee assignments are after the jump. Quick calls Steelers at Ravens | 1st quarter | 2:47 remaining | video. One of the first uses of the new all-touchdowns-subject-to-review rule

1975: No OPI on Hail Mary pass, official knocked out cold by flying bottle

Dec. 28, 1975 NFC Divisional Playoff: Cowboys at Vikings Thirty-five years ago, "Hail Mary" became a football term after Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach so described the desperation pass that connected with Drew Pearson in a playoff game with the Vikings. In the final drive, the Vikings were convinced that the touchdown should never

LJ Bergman departs Giants—Vikings game

Line judge Jeff Bergman was seen leaving the field on a cart after the end of the third quarter of the Giants–Vikings game in Detroit. He left the field on his feet with assistance, but was then was wheeled off to the locker room. Bergman was not hit on the