Is Ed Hoculi still the best?
 

I think so, he made a few mistakes this year but if I was in a big game he is my referee!

I still think he is the beat.... then a very close 2nd is Mike Carey

The NFL is in a very good point right now - there are lots of quality Referees. Steratore is good. Riveron is good. Hochuli and Carey as mentioned. Carollo is good. I like Winter myself. Leavy and Morelli do a fine job. There's no Tom White type anymore.

Corollo is up there with the others mentioned. I think some situations lend themselves to making officials look bad, i.e., no-win situations. I think the NFL has a lot of very good officials.

If Hoculi was ever the "best" it was not for a very long time. Not to say that Hoculi is a bad official, but there are a lot of very good Referees if you ask me. And if you look at the ratings, I do not think Hoculi is consistently the top guy at all. I know he has not received a lot of playoff assignments recently compared to other Referees.

Peace

I agree that right now the NFL might be at one of the high points ever at the referee position. I see a huge crop of great referees, with Hochuli and Carey leading the way. Riveron and Boger are a couple of really good "newer" guys!

What makes Hoch great is his overall contribution to the Referee spot at the NFL level. When you look back in history, 85 will be atop or near the top of the elite NFL officials. If it was such that Ed was the top every year, and everyone was playing for silver, then it'd be rather boring. Ed has received many playoff assignments, and is known to contribute to the league outside the normal expectations.

That's why he is the best.

I think Boger's mic needs work. I am partial to Steratore and Parry. IIRC, they were brought into the league to be CCs. Hoch and Carey are leading the way, though. Riveron has had a smooth transition too.

It looks like Riveron goofed on the DAL fumble though.

All the white hats I've met and got to observe up close do a good job.

Actually, when you compare Hochuli to other referees over the last five years, he does quite well. Only Mike Carey has more playoff assignments since 2003, and only one more:

M Carey......6 (2 WC, 3 DIV, 1 SB)
E Hochuli....5 (2 WC, 1 DIV, 1 CC, 1 SB)
T McAulay....5 (1 DIV, 3 CC, 1 SB)
W Anderson...5 (4 WC, 1 CC)
W Coleman....5 (3 WC, 1 DIV, 1 CC)
J Triplette..4 (2 WC, 1 DIV, 1 CC)
B Carollo....4 (2 DIV, 2 CC)
P Morelli....4 (1 WC, 3 DIV)
B Leavy......4 (1 WC, 2 DIV, 1 SB)
G Austin.....3 (3 DIV)
B Kukar......2 (1 WC, 1 CC)
T Corrente...2 (1 DIV, 1 SB)
J Boger......1 (1 DIV)
J Grier......1 (1 WC)
L Nemmers....1 (1 WC)
R Winter.....1 (1 DIV)
S Green......1 (1 WC)
B Vinovich...1 (1 WC)

Where would you find the ratings?

I rest my case.

Remember we are talking about opinions here. And just because you think he is the best, does not make it so.

I personally do not have a dog in this fight, but I think there are a lot of good referees. And playoff assignments are very deceiving all by themselves because you have to be at a position for a certain amount of time before you can even work a single playoff game. Ed has been around longer than most. Someone could make a case that there are several officials that were better but were not eligible for playoffs. And remember Ed is very high profile, so we remember his games more than others.

Peace

They're not made public.

You can infer them in a general sense by who gets which playoff assignments. But you'll never see them posted anywhere.