NFL Refs

NCAA and NFL Referee news

Bill Vinovich returns to the field in Week 6!

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Exciting news today for officiating fans, as Bill Vinovich will once again don a white hat for this weekend’s game between the Lions and Eagles.

Vinovich last worked in the 2006 season, and retired before 2007 due to his health.  At that time, John Parry took his place.

This information was learned by Football Zebras, an allied site whose founder Ben regularly contributes assignments here at Football-Refs.

While Football-Refs puts all of its focus on assignments (and will continue to do so), Football Zebras focuses heavily on news and discussion.  If you’re interested in officiating news, discussion about specific calls or opinion articles, Football Zebras comes highly recommended!

How big of a deal will it be to have replacement referees for a few games?

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It’s sounding more and more likely that the NFL will have to use replacement referees for the first few weeks of the regular season, as the NFL and the NFL Referees Association are continuing to fail to make progress toward a new deal.

How bad will this be?  Big deal, small deal, or no problem at all?

Bill Leavy apologizes for mistakes in 2006 Super Bowl

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A few years too late, Bill Leavy has apologized for mistakes he made in the 2006 Super Bowl though he hasn’t said exactly which calls he is referring to.

There are a handful of calls that are in dispute, but none that were outlandishly bad as we’ve seen in a variety of games in recent years.  Here’s a good clip that covers most of them from Super Bowl XL:

What do you think?  Which calls is he referring to?

Mike Pereira, Head of NFL Officials, to retire

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According to ESPN, Mike Pereira is set to retire at the end of this season.  The 59-year-old Pereira has been a very open and well-liked chief, and he’ll be returning to California with wife to enjoy his retirement.  This decision was made during the previous off-season and had nothing to do with any of the controversies of this season.

No successor has yet been named.