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I'm wondering if there are areas where the white hat (i.e Referee; just to be clear) and the Crew chief are or could be two different individuals. Where I work, they are the same. R's have some additional responsibilities (without additional pay, but that's another debate) and do take control. However, if one of my crew members brings me a penalty, I'm going to enforce it unless its just flat out wrong. Then I will convince him to change it -- which I have done. Heck, I've even talked myself into picking up my own flag before! No, we don't get into a habit of that, but if its necessary we'll do it.
I tell my crew (and adhere to it myself): don't be married to your calls. If my BJ comes in with a DPI and my LJ comes in and says it was probably uncatchable, I'll give them 5-10 seconds to discuss it and then we'll come to a decision but I expect both of them to decide on what's the best call for that situation, not what upholds their ego. Otherwise, I expect my guys to make the tough calls and when they bring them to me, I'll enforce them. If one guy comes to me and says, "18 threw a punch, I think he's ejected," 18 is gone. If one comes to me and says "18 had a personal foul but I'm not sure if it was flagrant," I'll try to get together to see if 1) they saw what 18 did on that play and 2) if they had warned 18 before. In the end, whoever made the call will make the decision unless he gives it up to me or the crew.
This is one reason why you need a good pregame if working with guys you don't consistently work with. That's when I give my "married to your calls" speech -- which mainly applies to things like uncatchable pass on DPI or pass thrown behind the line on ineligibles downfield, and like plays.
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