7 officiating observations from the 2021 season

Commentary by Mark Schultz We made it through another season, and here are the officiating related things I noticed during the 18-week regular season. Expedited replay is a success I was skeptical at first, but once the bugs got worked out, the "replay assistance rule" turned into a valuable officiating tool this year. In

7 officiating observations for the 2018 season

Dale Shaw (Tennessee Titans) It was another great football season and, for us, there were several officiating stories from 2018. Here are the seven that stood out to me. 1. Hugo Cruz fired In one of the most shocking events of the year, the NFL fired down judge Hugo Cruz in mid-season. This

NFL takes a hit after four referee retirements

Embed from Getty Images Every generation of NFL officiating gives way to the next. This past offseason, we saw, very quickly and dramatically, one generation give way to the next. Referees Ed Hochuli, Gene Steratore, Terry McAulay and Jeff Triplette represent 88-years of experience at the referee position. That is 88-years

Terry McAulay quits NFL for NBC

In a monumentally stunning move, NFL referee Terry McAulay, arguably the best referee on the NFL roster, has retired, as announced by senior vice president of officiating Al Riveron. https://twitter.com/alriveron/status/1009814475652894721 Multiple sources tell Football Zebras that McAulay will likely join Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth in the NBC booth as a rules analyst for

Jim Quirk retains post as head of referees’ union [updated]

Embed from Getty Images Update, 4/11: The union meetings have concluded, and Jim Quirk remains as the executive director. The matter of replacing Quirk did not come to a vote at the meetings that were "sparsely attended," according to one union member. Football Zebras has not been in contact with all

50 Super Bowl calls, Part 4: XX to XI

The Football Zebras staff -- with the assistance of our affiliated forum, Behind the Football Stripes -- has examined the Super Bowls of years past for the work of the officials who, in a given year, achieve the honor of the best of the best. While every team competes for