A Zebra Report Special: Analyzing the Super Bowl Officiating Crew

The identity of the officiating crew calling the big game this Sunday was leaked last week. The referee is Terry McAulay. This is McAulay's 11th season as an NFL official, and this will mark his second Super Bowl, after he worked the Eagles/Pats game in 2005.

McAulay was the referee of the AFC playoff game between the Titans and the Ravens this season, the "non-delay of game" game in which a safety should have been called but was missed as well.

Statistically, McAulay's crew is pretty average when it comes to how tightly penalties are called. They are right near the median in terms of penalties called per game and yardage assessed per game. Of course, there really isn't a ton of information to help us determine how the Super Bowl will be called.

This is because the Super Bowl crew is not the same crew as each referee had in the regular season. If it helps to think about it this way, view it as an "all-star team." The only official from McAulay's regular season crew will be the side judge -- positioned deep down the sidelines, across from the field judge. That means the all-too-maligned back judge who didn't call the delay of game will not be working the Super Bowl.

The crew that has been assembled is relatively inexperienced, for a Super Bowl. They have two officials with six years experience -- the minimum required to work the big game -- and no one other than McAulay has worked for more than 10 years.

Don't take this as anything more than passing along information. Sometimes guys are much better officials after only six years in the league than those who have logged 20. All the officials are chosen based upon positional supervisors' grading during the regular season. They are there on merit, not as some band of misfits that has been pieced together at the last minute. We should assume, heading into the game, that we are watching the best the NFL has to offer.

With this in mind, we can expect each of the officials chosen to be professional and fall in line with the beliefs of their referee, McAulay. After all, the "white hat" is the boss. They'll likely have an extended pre-game meeting where he goes over points of emphasis and things to watch. They'll be in Tampa for several days before the game, and they won't be partying, so they'll have plenty of time to break down film and get to know each other's strengths and weaknesses.

Considering McAulay's regular season crew was consistent in calling an average amount of penalties, I expect a well-officiated game where they let the players play, while not allowing blatant infractions to go uncalled. I expect more "talk-to" situations early when it comes to marginal late-hit situations, for example, but anything that could be construed as dirty will most certainly be called to set the tone and establish it will not be tolerated.

Personally, I've always found McAulay to be one of the most professional officials in the business and I look forward to a controversy-free Super Bowl Sunday. If we don't get that, well, you know where to find us Monday morning.