Four months after blowing a call that handed the Denver Broncos a win over the San Diego Chargers, Ed Hochuli has been rewarded by the NFL with a playoff appearance, working today's game between the Baltimore Ravens and Miami Dolphins.The NFL gives playoff assignments to officiating crews based on the way they performed during the regular season, and CBS announcer Phil Simms reported that the league actually rated Hochuli and the six other officials on his crew as the best team of officials in the league.
And although that won't sit well with Chargers fans, it's really not a surprise. Hochuli has long had a reputation for being a firm but fair ref, and just because he was very wrong on one very big call, that doesn't make him a bad referee. If he's been judged by the league office as the league's best ref, he belongs in the playoffs.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Thank you for this, MDS.
People can get caught up all they want on one or two calls, but this crew is consistently stellar throughout the course of a 17 game season ... games which house upwards of 100 plays.
Let the simple-minded focus only on one mistake all they want.
He is a lousy official who wants to get on TV all the time. A good ref is one who does not call attention to himself.
Ed "big arms" thinks 100,000 fans came to the game to see and hear him.
Phooey!
bigflyer:
How many games have you officiated/umpired at any level? Just curious...Consider it a "research question".
How can anyone say Hochuli should be officiating this post season? It wasn't just one game, it was several games that he and his crew made terrible calls this season. I don't care if he has been good in past seasons. He was terrible this season!
What a joke the NFL has become. It has gotten to be like big time wrestling.
If this is the best officiating crew the NFL has to offer what must the worst crew be like?
Billy Clyde Puckett:
Zero Games. I also have not killed anyone and I know that is wrong too.
I met the Back Judge in Hochuli's crew in an airport and immediately took a liking to him and a disliking to your cousin Ed.
Mike Carey is the best official in the NFL. Period.
Hochuli didn't just make one terrible call that changed the outcome of the Denver/San Diego game. He also made a very bad call in the first quarter of that game that I have never seen before or since, and I have been watching football since the 60s. He gave Denver the ball on the Chargers 29 yard line on a fumble that wasn't a fumble, and when it was challenged he said that the replay equipment wasn't working so he wasn't going to review it. Hey Ed, look up at the Jumbotron dumbass!
So Ed's two blown calls led directly to 15 points for Denver, who ended up winning the game by 1 point. And this is the best the NFL has?
The NFL has long been a good ol' boys club when it comes to officials. They like the guys who are CEOs of companies, lawyers and bankers. The best officials I know are plumbers, mailmen and salesmen.
Ability to make the right call is a bonus but not necessary. The league's idea of "punishing" Hochuli was sending him to the Detroit-Green Bay season finale.
Obviously, the league couldn't care less if a guy like Hochuli makes a mistake that cost a team a game. He will work as long as he wants to and there is nothing anybody can do about it.
This is a star-driven marketing league first and foremost.