Comparing post-season assignments with in-season grades to shed light on the officials and prepare for the Super Bowl
Using the Playoffs to Judge Officiating Excellence
The NFL uses season grades to make playoff assignments. Using post-season assignments to reverse-engineer season grades is extremely fraught and has significant potential for error. With that caveat, here are some observations. The Clete Blakeman crew was clearly the most awarded crew, and stood head and shoulders above the rest. Referee Clete Blakeman and line judge Julian Mapp both received conference championship assignments, and back judge Jonah Monroe is working the Super Bowl. Additionally, down judge Dana McKenzie and line judge Julian Mapp are both backup officials for the Super Bowl. Every member of the crew received either two on field assignments, or both one on the field and one as a backup, with the exception of Karina Tovar who was by rule ineligible for a post-season assignment due to it being her first year in the league. The Denver Broncos saw the Blakeman crew in week 2 against the Steelers. I complemented the short wings for excellent spotting, and the deep officials for supporting their other officials, but noted a dislike of the then current philosophy on holding penalties from Blakeman and especially umpire Scott Campbell. I am not at all surprised that they received such a consistently high grade through the year.
The worst crews in the league using post-season assignments as a basis were those led by Adrian Hill, Craig Wrolstad, and Scott Novak. While Mark Stewart from the Novak crew will be working the Super Bowl, five members of that crew did not receive post season assignments, even as an alternate. Novak himself was for the second year only an alternate for a wild card game. Adrian Hill’s crew had only two members earn post-season on field assignments, and while the Craig Wrolstad crew had four on-field assignments, all were wild card assignments. The Broncos saw Wrolstad’s crew in their week five game against the Raiders. I considered it an excellent game from Wrolstad and his crew, and while I disagreed with a few points felt that they performed at an exceptional level. I did not see anything that deserved their apparent post-season snubs. The Broncos saw Adrian Hill’s crew in weeks 9 and 17 for the games against the Ravens and then against the Bengals. The game against the Ravens is one that I felt was very poorly officiated, really by the entire crew. The week 17 game I was much more impressed by and it felt like they had improved significantly over the course of the season. Regardless of the growth, I was relatively happy that one of the crews I found most frustrating ended up with few post-season assignments.
Super Bowl Officials
The Broncos saw Referee Ron Torbert in Weeks 4 and 12. I offered effusive praise of his performance in week 12. I offered similar praise for Torbert in week 4, though I felt his crew was more uneven. I generally consider Torbert one of my favorite referees. I am a bit surprised he was assigned the Super Bowl, as he is generally considered to have blown several calls in his divisional playoff assignment.
The Broncos saw Umpire Mike Morton in Week 8. I called out his zealousness for long defensive substitutions (though mechanically this should have been mostly on referee Alex Kemp), as well as a deeply inconsistent end of the fourth quarter, though the rest of the game was solid.
The Broncos saw Down Judge Max Causey in Week 13. I was particularly critical of the performance of the short wings in this game.
The Broncos did not see Line Judge Mark Stewart this year.
The Broncos saw Field Judge Mearl Robinson in Week 6. I marked some questionable misses in the secondary in this game, but did not call out or praise Robinson specifically.
The Broncos did not see Side Judge Boris Cheek this year.
The Broncos saw Back Judge Jonah Monroe in Week 2. I specifically praised Jonah Monroe for some of the best back-judging I had seen in years.
I am surprised that they chose to honor Mike Morton and Max Causey. neither was eligible via the traditional Super Bowl requirements to even work the game, and I did not have positive reviews of either from their Broncos games this year. There are very talented umpires in the league, and some extraordinary short wings, so I am a bit surprised that the league decided to make exceptions for Morton and Causey.
All in all, I feel pretty good about my in-season evaluations of the Super Bowl officials. While I do not understand what happened with Morton or Causey, Monroe and Tolbert put together spectacular games with the Broncos earlier in the year.
How to Watch Officiating in the Super Bowl
If you want to watch world class officiating, keep your eye on back judge Jonah Monroe. I would bet that if you see something truly awesome from the stripes, it will be from him. This year I am planning to pay a lot of attention to Causey and Stewart, particularly how they spot the ball. Its relatively easy to judge spots while watching TV, as the angles are frequently great and rarely poor. One of my favorite training exercises for new officials is to have them watch games on TV and spot the ball every play and then see how an experienced official did it in the game. It is a fun zebra way to watch a Super Bowl.
Also, I will be watching the Super Bowl live, and am happy to answer questions on this post in somewhat real time during the game.