Here is your weekly thread to discuss the games coming up this weekend. We’ve got the game-by-game ref listing here – please help us fill out the schedule as you hear about which refs are working each game.
Once the games start, let us know what kind of interesting calls you see.
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
Week #4 2008
Houston Texans VS Jacksonville Jaguars
Referee is John Parry
You beat me to it. Thanks!
Week #4 2008 Regular Season:
Denver Broncos VS Kansas City Chiefs
Referee is Mike Carey
Week #4 2008
Atlanta Falcons VS Carolina Panthers
Referee is Ed Hochuli
They’re both up on that page now. Thanks!
How do you guys know which referee will ref each game before sunday?
A handful of other sites sometimes get upcoming information. Some include:
NFL85 — Ed Hochuli’s site
Behind the Football Stripes — A referee forum
There may be others, but those are a few to get you started. If you find any other information about this weekend, please let us know.
The referee in the Washington-Dallas game is Walt Anderson.
Thanks Shane! It’s up there now.
You’re welcome.
Pete Morelli did indeed referee the Minnesota-Tennessee game.
Oops, I forgot I still had that question mark up there. It’s removed now. Thanks!
You’re welcome!
The referee for the Philadelphia-Chicago game is Walt Coleman.
Added, thanks.
Darren Franczyk wrote:
Can you please answer this question for me. While watching the Eagle v Dallas
week 2. The Eagles committed a personal foul unnessary roughness was called on
the Eagles it happened at 8:38 in the 3rd quarter. On the same play there was
an offensive penalty. Here is the transcript from NFL.com PENALTY on
PHI-58-T.Cole, Unnecessary Roughness, 15 yards, enforced at DAL 43 – No Play.
Penalty on DAL-89-T.Curtis, False Start, superseded.
Now last night against the bears the bears roughed the kicker and there was an
illegal formantion penalty against the Eagles. (3:47) 6-S.Rocca punts 49 yards
to CHI 30, Center-46-J.Dorenbos, fair catch by 23-D.Hester. Penalty on PHI,
Illegal Formation, offsetting, enforced at PHI 21 – No Play. Penalty on
CHI-33-C.Tillman, Roughing the Kicker, offsetting.
How is it offsetting one week and not offsetting another week. Can you please
explain. What I understood the rule to be was a personal foul superscedes a 5
yd penalty. It didnot happen last night and it affected the outcome of
the game.
Darren,
You obviously get the NFL’s 5vs15 rule. A 5 yard penalty is ignored if the other team commits a 15 yard penalty. I did not see the play last night, but the only thing I can assume is that ‘running into the kicker’ was called and not ‘roughing the kicker.’ Had it been roughing the kicker, the 5 vs. 15 rule would have kicked in, and there is no way a coach would have let the officials make the error of wiping the penalties.
Darren e-mailed his question to Ed Hochuli, who responded in a great deal of detail. It really shows just how complex the rules can get. Also, I’m quite impressed with the amount of time that Mr. Hochuli took to explain the answer.
Here is Ed’s response to Darren:
———————
That is an excellent observation on your part, Darren. Frankly, I’m really surprised that you noticed. The NFL rules are very complicated — far more so than high school or college rules. This particular rule is called the “5 /15″ rule. It’s really quite complex, but basically the rule is that when there is a 5 yard penalty by one team and a 15 yard penalty by the other team, the 15 yard penalty is enforced, and the five-year penalty is declined by rule (that’s what they meant by “superseded”). Therefore, in the Dallas game, a 15 yard penalty was enforced, and the five-year penalty was declined.
There are two exceptions to the 5/15 rule. The first is that if there is a change of possession on the play, the rule does not apply, and the two penalties offset. That’s the reason that the penalties offset and the down was replayed in the Bears game. (The definition of “change of possession” gets very complicated on field goals, punts, kickoffs, and fourth-down plays on which the offense does not reach the line to gain, but I won’t go into that here).
The other exception to the 5/15 rule is what’s called a “clean hands score.” If the defense commits a 5 yard penalty, and the offense scores with clean hands and then commits a personal foul after they’ve scored, the five-yard penalty is declined, and the 15 yard penalty is enforced in the kickoff. So for example, if the defense lines up offside, and the offense runs for a touchdown and then after the score, the offense commits a 15 yard penalty like taunting — the five-yard penalty is declined, and the offense kicks off from their own 15 yard line.
I hope that makes some sense. I seldom go into that much detail with people about the rules, because as I said, they are extremely complicated, and for just about everything I say, there are always exceptions. However, your question so surprised me because very few people would even notice, that I thought I’d give you a more in-depth answer.
All my best
Week #4 2008
Ravens VS Steelers
Referee is Gene Steratore
Added, thanks!