Mile High Report
Comparing post-season assignments with in-season grades to shed light on the officials and prepare for the Super Bowl
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.
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...
