This weekend’s games included a collection of officials who didn’t necessarily work together throughout the preseason and regular season.
While referee Ed Hochuli has two of his crew members with him in Green Bay and referee Craig Wrolstad had one in Pittsburgh, referees Brad Allen and Ronald Torbert worked with an entirely different crew on Saturday in Seattle and Houston, respectively.
Former NFL V.P. of officiating Mike Pereira, appearing on FOX shortly before the start of Sunday’s Giants-Packers game, said this about the failure to use full crews: “Seven guys from seven different crews did not work on a level that’s acceptable.”
He’s right. But what else should the league expect? Over the course of 17 weeks, the officials develop knowledge of each other’s habits. They understand how the rest of the crew works. They find a way to work together.
And then comes the wild-card round, where seven officials who may not even know each other get jammed together in a nationally-televised stand-alone game for which every blunder will be magnified. Apart from the substantive differences in how officials call the game, there are interpersonal dynamics that necessarily affect whether and to what extent they can come together, get along, and work toward the common goal of getting all calls right.
It doesn’t mean mistakes won’t happen. But it’s one less factor that can get in the way of the goal of minimizing blunders.
