Since football is a team sport and reaching the playoffs is a reward for successful play
during the regular season wouldn't it make sense to reward the best officiating crews
the opportunity to officiate together in the playoffs.
It doesn't make sense to separate crews during the playoffs that have worked together all season.
The only time it would make sense is for the Pro Bowl.
All-star officiating crews
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John Grasso
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Re: All-star officiating crews
The best piece of football-related news I heard this weekend was that Jeff Tripalette is retiring after the Chiefs-Titans game.
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Gary Najman
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Re: All-star officiating crews
I agree, but there are two things against it:John Grasso wrote:Since football is a team sport and reaching the playoffs is a reward for successful play
during the regular season wouldn't it make sense to reward the best officiating crews
the opportunity to officiate together in the playoffs.
It doesn't make sense to separate crews during the playoffs that have worked together all season.
The only time it would make sense is for the Pro Bowl.
1) Rookie officials don't get playoff assignments
2) Each oficial is graded independently: there was a year when they diched the All-Star crews and replaced rookies with the best oficial available at their respective position, but didn't worked and they came back to the All-Star crews the next season.
Plus, when you know the officials, it's great t see the All-Star crews. One example: in Super Bowl XI you had a very experienced crew led by 17-vetaran referee Jim Tunney and by 19-year veteran umpire Lou Palazzi (a former center for the Giants in the 40s), plus another two 17-year veterans (head linesman Ed Marion and back judge Tom Kelleher) and 16-year veteran field judge Armen Terzian. If not for the Super Bowl, you couldn't see those officials working together.
Last edited by Gary Najman on Thu Mar 12, 2020 6:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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65 toss power trap
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Re: All-star officiating crews
It makes for interesting playoff football when a strong offensive team has a below-average kicker. It is not good for the game when a strong officiating crew has brought the #16 back judge into the playoffs.
Jerry Seeman always said "who do you want to go to war with" about the playoff assignments. What does happen is officials who aren't living up to their potential are assigned to stronger crewmates in the regular season. A line judge in the lower ranks may get paired with one of the best field judges so they work the same sideline. An official who continues to struggle will be on notice in the third year.
This does have the practical effect of having a low-ranked official ride the coattails of a really good crew. It also can have some of your best single officials working a Wild Card, an alternate, or nothing at all.
Mike Pereira tried to advance entire crews, and the union didn't like it, becuase it penalized the better officials. He always says how he likes the "crew concept," because it was his idea. He was only an NFL official for 2 seasons, so he never personally had to work towards a championship or Super Bowl crew. He worked the 1 playoff game the only year he was eligible.
Every season crews change, few of them are exactly the same in consecutive years. Some retire and new officials come in, some are moved around. So, if the officials can handle that year-to-year change, they should be able to handle a crew change for the playoffs, especially if they are the best officials.
One of the criticisms of the "mixed crews" (not "all star") is that you do get to the middle of the pack with the Wild Card assignments. I think it would be better if they have 5 crews work 2 games each, plus a 6th crew to work a wild card. Then, you can truly say you have "all star" crews through the duration of the playoffs.
Jerry Seeman always said "who do you want to go to war with" about the playoff assignments. What does happen is officials who aren't living up to their potential are assigned to stronger crewmates in the regular season. A line judge in the lower ranks may get paired with one of the best field judges so they work the same sideline. An official who continues to struggle will be on notice in the third year.
This does have the practical effect of having a low-ranked official ride the coattails of a really good crew. It also can have some of your best single officials working a Wild Card, an alternate, or nothing at all.
Mike Pereira tried to advance entire crews, and the union didn't like it, becuase it penalized the better officials. He always says how he likes the "crew concept," because it was his idea. He was only an NFL official for 2 seasons, so he never personally had to work towards a championship or Super Bowl crew. He worked the 1 playoff game the only year he was eligible.
Every season crews change, few of them are exactly the same in consecutive years. Some retire and new officials come in, some are moved around. So, if the officials can handle that year-to-year change, they should be able to handle a crew change for the playoffs, especially if they are the best officials.
One of the criticisms of the "mixed crews" (not "all star") is that you do get to the middle of the pack with the Wild Card assignments. I think it would be better if they have 5 crews work 2 games each, plus a 6th crew to work a wild card. Then, you can truly say you have "all star" crews through the duration of the playoffs.