The Officials Denver will see in the Wild Card round, along with their experience and reviews.
Playoff officiating is done by “all-star” officiating crews, especially as the playoffs move on. However, because of the rules that the NFL and NFLRA have for playoff slots, twelve officials at each position will be assigned a playoff game. First year officials are not eligible for playoffs, typically there are around five to seven first year officials per year (so on average nearly one per position), and there are seventeen official crews. So with all of that said, if officials were randomly assigned to playoff games, they would get a playoff assignment 75% of the time. As a rough estimation, officials who are above that the league holds in high regard and those who are significantly below that probably struggle.
Here are the officials that the Denver Broncos will see on Sunday when they face the Buffalo Bills:
- Referee Bill Vinovich is in his nineteenth year officiating. He has worked three Super Bowls, including last years and a total of 19 playoff games. Arguably the most lauded referee working in the NFL. This year Denver did not see Vinovich, though we had two games officiated by him last season. He is perceived among Broncos fans as biased, partially because he officiated many games Peyton Manning lost, including the 2012 Ravens playoff game.
- Umpire Tab Slaughter is in his fifth year officiating in the NFL. He normally works on the crew of Alan Eck. Last year he worked the Browns Texans wild card game. He has officiated playoffs every year eligible. This year we saw Slaughter in the game against the Falcons, here is my analysis of that games officiating. He is replacing a 1st year (ineligible for playoffs) official on the Vinovich crew.
- Down judge Dale Keller is in his second year officiating in the NFL. He normally works on the Vinovich crew. This is the first playoff assignment he is eligible for.
- Line judge Tripp Sutter is in his sixth year officiating in the NFL. He normally works on the Vinovich crew. Last year he worked the Rams at Lions wildcard playoff game, and he has worked a total of two playoff games in his career.
- Field judge Jabir Walker is in his tenth year officiating in the NFL. He normally works on the Land Clark crew this year, but they switched him with the Vinovich Field Judge for the playoffs this year. Last year he worked the Steelers at Bills wildcard game, and he has worked a total of three playoff games. This year Denver had him against the New Orleans Saints, my analysis is here. That game had 13 total flags including one defensive holding and one defensive pass interference called by the deep wings.
- Side judge Frank Steratore is in his second year officiating in the NFL. He normally works on the Craig Wrolstad crew this year. He is filling in the slot on the Vinovich crew normally manned by Jimmy Buchanan, who has performed at about average for an NFL official .This is the first playoff assignment Steratore is eligible for. This year Denver had him at home against the Raiders, in a game that had 29 total flags. The deep wings called four pass interference and five holdings in that game. Here is my analysis of that game.
- Back judge Jimmy Russell is in his sixth year officiating in the NFL. He normally works on the Shawn Hochuli crew this year. He is filling in the slot on the Vinovich crew normally manned by Todd Prukop, who is a high performing official. Last year he worked the Rams at Lions wildcard game which was his first playoff assignment. This year Denver had him last week against the Chiefs. The deep wings called three penalties in that game: Defensive pass interference on Pat Surtain, offensive pass interference on Lil’Jordan Humphrey, and Illegal use of hands on the Chiefs. I criticized them for missing an obvious pass interference call in the game (though that was not Russell’s assignment on the play).