The NFL has backed the officiating crew after Sunday’s SuperBowl.

The NFL has defended the officiating in Super Bowl XL after claims that several bad calls affected the game’s outcome. […] The Super Bowl officiating crew, headed by referee Bill Leavy, comprised of officials graded as the best at each position during the regular season.


Basically, what the NFL is saying is that all of the calls were technically correct. However, what they don’t get into is whether or not the call should really have been made or not. The real problem here is that most of the incidents where something would normally not be called but was in this game came at the Seahawks’ expense.

I also do not agree with the NFL policy for selecting the officiating crew. Each year, the officials that are graded the highest at each position during the regular season get the playoff and SuperBowl jobs. There is an exception to the rule, however; they can not officiate in the SuperBowl for two years running.

I think that the NFL has a much better policy for choosing post-season officials than does MLB. Their grading system is very good, and officials are held to a very tight standard. However, if you are going to have an all-star team of officials, why not let them officiate two years running? You see some of the same guys in the Pro Bowl every year. If somebody is a better referee or line judge than somebody else, why not let him into the big game every year?