Question on Playoff officiating

[JR4]

Report came out telling us the lead Ref for PATs/Colts game but
it said he wont have the crew he had during the year.

Question: Is this the way it has been done in the past?
someone I know says this is new in that usually the lead ref gets the
crew he worked with all year.

 

[pats1]

http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/reiss_pieces/

January 20, 2007
Carollo gets call

Bill Carollo is scheduled to referee Sunday's AFC championship game between the Patriots and Colts at the RCA Dome.

This means Carollo was rated as one of the top five referees this season.

Also, at this stage of the playoffs, crews that worked the entire season together are no longer intact. Instead, the league takes the highest rated officials at each spot, and pieces together "all-star" crews.

Each official on the field this weekend is rated in the top five at their respective position.

SATURDAY LOOK-AHEAD: Today is a travel day to Indianapolis. We won't have access to the web at times, and will plan on filing an update later tonight should any players be downgraded on the injury report.

Posted By: mreiss | Time: 10:47:55 AM

 

[PatsFaninAZ]

Four years ago and before, they went with all-star crews for the entire playoffs. The last year, it was considered a pretty big failure, so they switched back to keeping crews together for the entire season. They did that for three years until last year, when they quietly went back to all-star crews, but only for the conference championships and the superbowl.

The superbowl drew so much criticism that people suggested after the game, it was suggested that all-star crews would again disappear. But somehow in the last 11 months, that sentiment changed and they are in fact doing all-star crews again this year for the conference championships and, apparently, the superbowl.