NFL Conference Championship Officials
 

New Orleans/Chicago
Mcaulay
Hall
Payne
Spanier
Gautreaux
Carlsen
Steed
ALT-Green
ALT-Defelice
Replay-Hill

New England/Indianapolis
Carollo
Michalek
Slaughter
Boston
Vernatchi
Rose
Helverson
ALT-Winter
ALT-Dawson
Replay-Boylston

Who does that leave the SB? Have we seen Hoculi yet?

Are these crews? I met James Coleman last year at a camp near Philadelphia and I know he's on Corollo's crew. Or, is there some kind of minimum requirement of years before you can work a playoff game. James is in his second year and I know he's very well thought of by Mr. Periera.

Since Corrente worked last weekend does that mean he's out for the SB? I thought for sure he would get it this year since he was an alt last season.

The NFL used established crews through last weekend. Now they are using "All-star" crews that were determined by their rankings in each position. So the 2nd and 3rd ranked in each position are working the games this weekend and the top ranked at each spot works the Super Bowl.

Yes, there is a minimum number of years of experience. Seems like it's 2 before you can work playoffs. I'm sure someone will enlighten us if I'm wrong.

In the past, the SB referee has come from either WC or a Divisional game, so who knows at this point. Being the ALT the previous year doesn't have anything to do with it.

Mike Carey???
 

He was working last week wasn't he? Could it finally be his year? I have always liked the job he did, but it always seemed that there was 1 game a year which didn't go well and it seemed to keep him from the big one....

REPLY: The rules always were (may still be) 2 years before being eligible for the playoffs; 5 years before being eligible for the Super Bowl, except that the Super Bowl R had to have 5 years at position before he was eligible.

Always used to be accepted that the SB officials would work either a wild-card or divisional game in order to remain sharp. However in recent years, that's not always been the case. For example, the SJ in last year's Super Bowl (Tom Hill) did not work in either a WC or divisional game--SB was his only playoff assignment last season.

And ljudge...I believe Corrente will do just fine.

Crews?
 

The NFL used established crews through last weekend. Now they are using "All-star" crews that were determined by their rankings in each position. So the 2nd and 3rd ranked in each position are working the games this weekend and the top ranked at each spot works the Super Bowl.

They didn't have set crews up to this point - the Indy / Baltimore game had a mismatched U and R. Carollo's normal U was working it (with Leavy, I believe). I suspect the other games were staffed that way as well.

If you are saying what I think you are saying, then big congrats to Tony Corrente. I was very impressed with his game management, mechanics, and mic work in all the games I watched this year. Most of those games included idiot announcers who gave Tony a very hard time for some of his calls (all of which were judged to be correct by the NFL, obviously).

First, I think that if its Mike Carey or Ed Hochuli the game is in good hands and we will all learn a lot. However, I get this funny feeling that this might be Gerry Austin's last year and he might get it. I believe he worked the first round. Its just a guess. Personally, I think its Mike's time but any game with Ed in it is fine by me.

Bob, I think I agree, Corrente would be an excellent choice. Will be interesting to see who the other 6 will be.

Mike Carey 94 worked a divisional game. Ed Hochuli 85 was an alternate in a wild card game. I really want to see Winter in there, but he's an alternate in a CC game.

I'm thinking 85...

Whoever wanted to see Tony Corrente got there wish, here is the SB crew.

R- Tony Corrente #99
U- Carl Paganelli #124
HL- George Hayward #54
LJ- Ron Marinucci #107
FJ- Jim Saracino #58
SJ- John Parry #132
BJ- Perry Paganelli #46
ALT- Jeff Triplette #42 (R)
ALT- Butch Hannah #40 (U)
ALT- Carl Johnson #101 (HL/LJ)
ALT- Buddy Horton #82 (FJ/SJ)
ALT- Richard Reels #83 (BJ)

:)

No Dino
 

Carl Senior must be happy. To bad that rookie Dino could not be an alternate.

So Ed didn't work a playoff game at all? I didn't think I had seen him. Did he have a bad year?

He must have? You figure he fell between 10 and 17 in ranking? Who knows where he was at.

Corrente is fine and will do a great job but...... why is Mike Carey getting overlooked? It seems that he and Ed are the "face" of NFL R's. JMO.....

Funny comments regarding big Ed!
 

I'm this is Paganelli's 2nd Supe in 3 years. I worked as an usher at SB XXXIX in Jacksonville and the jumbotron showed a little girl holding up a sign during the game....

"My daddy is the Umpire...go #124."

Also, I just watched the officiating segment on NFL Network (on NFL.com). I don't know the host's name. He was asking Mike Pereira if he would reveal the names of the officials awarded the Super Bowl. (obviously it's now dated because we know from the other post).

Mike indicated that for the CC and the SB the top 3 from each position get assigned based on their performance of their 1,800 - 2,000 plays they work during the regular season.

But anyway the host then asked....

"is how much can someone benchpress...is that not included for Ed Hochuli's sake...is that part of the equation?"

Mike Pereira responded saying....

"actually....actually, that's not....and neither is the size of the shirt.":D

I'm certainly not an expert, however, these boys get two thumbs up from me today!

SB selection.
 

After watching Corrente butcher roughing the passer calls all year, I'm amazed they would put him in such a high profile game,( everyone makes a mistake, but he seemed to do it often) and risk another PR issue. He seems to do well other that he doesn't have good judgement on roughing the passer. I'm sorry, I just don't see him as a top ten referee, let alone doing the Super bowl. TMO

Maybe this is the year the NFL wants Manning to get his championship?

Total arbitrary ranking of NFL officials. Take it for what its worth. But I found it interesting.

Season Zebra Crew Rankings as of Divisional Week
Official 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 WC D C SB Total
Bill Vinovich 5 1 - 1 1 1 11 - 6 2 6 3 1 1 5 4 1 1 - - - 1
Jeff Triplette 10 11 2 9 - 2 1 1 - 1 10 1 4 12 1 3 2 2 - - - 2
Ed Hochuli 3 3 1 6 6 5 - 2 3 12 - 6 7 9 8 2 11 - - - - 3
Bill Leavy 4 7 9 7 3 - 12 4 5 10 3 8 11 6 - 9 5 - 1 - - 4
Gene Steratore 9 5 7 10 11 8 3 - 10 4 4 5 - 13 4 1 3 - - - - 5
Jerome Boger 6 6 8 3 - 9 8 9 8 7 7 12 3 3 7 - 6 - - - - 6
Pete Morelli 7 9 11 - 4 12 2 10 1 11 1 - 6 2 3 6 12 4 - - - 7
Scott Green - 4 13 4 - 11 7 7 2 13 8 7 12 10 2 5 4 - - - - 8
Bill Carollo 1 16 12 - 7 10 10 - 9 15 5 9 8 4 9 7 14 - - - - 9
Ron Winter 2 8 4 12 9 - 13 6 13 16 15 4 9 5 15 14 - - - - - 10
Tony Corrente 8 15 5 - 13 7 6 5 - 5 11 16 15 11 10 13 15 - 2 - - 11
Terry McAulay 15 14 3 5 8 6 - 3 12 3 9 11 5 16 11 8 8 - - - - 12
Walt Coleman 13 10 - 14 2 4 - 8 7 14 13 14 16 14 14 16 13 - - - - 13
Larry Nemmers 14 13 - 8 10 3 9 13 - 6 14 10 10 8 6 12 16 - - - - 14
Mike Carey 11 2 6 2 5 13 - 14 11 8 2 15 2 - 12 10 7 - 3 - - 15
Walt Anderson 16 12 10 11 12 - 4 12 4 - 12 2 14 7 13 15 10 3 - - - 16
Gerald Austin 12 - 14 13 14 - 5 11 14 9 16 13 13 15 16 11 9 - 4 - - 17

Please tell me you are kidding....please please pleaaaaaase.....

...

Nothing.

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.

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.

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

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.

Who came up with these rankings? To do so, they would have had to watch every game, KNOW the NFL rules (not like the announcers or fans), and compare them against each other.

This is just my completely humble opinion, but any ranking that has Ron Winter above McAulay, Carey, Anderson, and Austin is very strange. Also, it has the Super Bowl R ranked 11th.

I'll pass.

The rankings look like they are from bad-zebras.com

These are rankings derived from votes by fans as to whether or not they feel the game was officiated properly.

In other words, complete garbage.

Don't worry, you too can look like Ed Hochuli!