Every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday during the season, in a
15th-floor room at NFL headquarters, seven officiating
supervisors sit in front of 29-inch video monitors, with
sophisticated VCR equipment at their fingertips. "It's our
mission control," NFL director of officiating Jerry Seeman says.
It is Nov. 4, and as Seeman speaks, games are being analyzed all
around him. Supervisors review every snap, making notes on a
copy of the official play-by-play. After completing his
analysis, each supervisor pulls out a sheet that lists those
plays on which a team disputes calls that were, or weren't,
made. When such plays are given a second look, the supervisor
often asks Seeman for his opinion, and the video is switched
from the monitor to a huge video screen.
"Here's one, Jerry," supervisor Jack Reader says, queuing up a
play from the Nov. 2 Broncos-Seahawks game. "The Denver coach
[Mike Shanahan] wants this play sent to [the league's director
of football development] Gene Washington for discipline review."
The tape shows Broncos quarterback John Elway running from the
pocket, then throwing a pass. After the ball is released,
Seattle defensive end Michael Sinclair takes a step and a half
before blasting Elway in the chest. "He doesn't hit Elway in the
head," Reader says.
"He's a runner, because he's not in the pocket," Seeman adds.
"That's no foul."
"That's how I see it," Reader says.
By Wednesday each referee has the review of his crew's
performance, which he shares with the six other members of his
team. The league grades each of its 112 officials weekly and
keeps a record of those ratings by position. The ratings carry
added significance because they help determine playoff
assignments, which go to the top-ranked officials at each
position. Another supervisor, Al Hynes, tracks 180 college
officials. Due to retirement and the weeding out of subpar
officials, the NFL replaced 12 men after last season. "We'll
never be perfect," Seeman says. "But if you make too many
mistakes, you won't be working here long." Seeman won't estimate
how many calls officials have missed in '97, but he admits that
of the seven calls one team disputed in a Nov. 2 game, three
were judged to indeed be incorrect.
"I just did Tampa Bay-Indianapolis," Reader says, "and our guys
made one mistake [in 172 plays]. That's pretty good."
Issue date: November 17, 1997
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