NFL Conference Championship Officials

[AndrewMcCarthy]

Originally Posted by Trap

Total arbitrary ranking of NFL officials. Take it for what its worth.

...

Nothing.

[rulesmaven]

The NFL is continuing what it did last year -- after a 3 year haitus from all star crews, it switched to them last year for the championship round and the superbowl and it's doing that again this year.

Word is that Hochuli deferred to get priority for the superbowl next year in his hometown. It's strange that he didn't ref a single game, though, this year. Maybe he's the ALT again for the Superbowl, as he was, I believe, for 39.

I think that the crews have been superb for all 10 games so far, with Vinovich's crew standing out as the cream of the crop in his first playoff game.

[ljudge]

Originally Posted by rulesmaven

Word is that Hochuli deferred to get priority for the superbowl next year in his hometown. It's strange that he didn't ref a single game, though, this year. Maybe he's the ALT again for the Superbowl, as he was, I believe, for 39.

You're correct, he was the alt for 39. It's funny how he's well-liked by NFL fans. He was walking down the endline in one of the endzones about an hour or so prior to the game. He literally got a standing O from the fans in the lower endzone seating area as he walked by. He acknowledged with a quick wave.

I don't understand how he would get "priority" though as they use all-star crews as rulesmaven states. He still has to be the best out of the 16 or 17 referees they have.

[Bob M.]

REPLY: Triplette, not Hochuli, is the alternate R for the Super Bowl.

[rulesmaven]

Originally Posted by ljudge

I don't understand how he would get "priority" though as they use all-star crews as rulesmaven states. He still has to be the best out of the 16 or 17 referees they have.

I'm not suggesting that if he has a bad year he'll get the game. But what I've heard is that he made it clear that to the extent he was up for it this year, he'd prefer next. (You cannot officiate two superbowls in a row.)

The fact that he's officiated 17 post-season games in 15 years and his crew was near the top this year in ratings, but he did not do any post-season games this year I think lends some support to the rumor. I think it's unlikely that his crew was not in the top 9 this year, yet he's not in the playoffs.

I'm pretty sure that for the last 3 games, it's not necessarily 1 that gets the SB and 2 and 3 that get the championship games. I just think you need to be top 3, and then not disqualified by one of the other rules (e.g., must have more than 4 years experience, or more than 5 unless you've done a championship game, must have not done the game the last year, etc.)

Bottom line is that if he's in the top 5 or 6 next year at his position, I will take even money that he will end up with the game by hook or crook.