Some big achievements for Divisional Playoff officiating crews this weekend

This weekend’s divisional playoff officiating crews are a ready to call the games and there are some interesting nuggets of information in these assignments.

Many officials working a divisional playoff for the first time

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The following officials are working their first divisional playoff assignment this weekend, including down judge Patrick Holt, pictured above.

			Yrs	2023 crew	College	Occupation
R	55	Alex Kemp	10		Central Michigan	insurance agent
U	49	Alex Moore	2	Vinovich	St. Petersburg	compliance manager
U	89	Mike Morton	2	Kemp	North Carolina	dentist FORMER NFL PLAYER
DJ	44	Frank LeBlanc	4	Hussey	Lamar Institute of Technology	neighborhood services manager
DJ	106	Patrick Holt	5	Hochuli	North Carolina State	IT manager
LJ	85	Daniel Gallagher	4	Blake	Kent State	athletic programs manager
FJ	57	Joe Blubaugh	4	Vinovich	Pittsburg State	regional sales manager
FJ	90	Anthony Flemming	4	Hussey	Texas A&M-Commerce	senior auditor
BJ	96	Matt Edwards	6	Hussey	Western Michigan	healthcare sales

• What’s an even more impressive is that Moore and Morton are officiating a divisional playoff in their first year of eligibility. Any playoff game is a feather in the cap, but the first assignment in the second round might be worth two feathers in the cap.

Weather will again play a role

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The games in Buffalo and Baltimore promise cold and blustery weather and hopefully little to no precipitation. But it will be cold. In these games both the players and the officials (who don’t get to come out of the game and warm up under a parka), have to push the cold out of their minds, bear down and concentrate on every play.

Nice mix of experience and newcomers this weekend

The crews this weekend are a nice blend of veteran and younger officials. In some leagues it seems like playoff assignments are based on longevity. But it is nice to see the NFL mixing in younger officials.

You will see the Super Bowl officials on the field this weekend

Traditionally, the NFL assigns the Super Bowl officials to the Divisional Playoffs. The Super Bowl crew is not all assigned to one game. In the past, the NFL assigned Super Bowl officials to the divisional playoffs in the pairs they will work with during the Super Bowl: referee/umpire and sideline pairs of down judge/side judge and line judge/field judge. In looking over the Divisional Playoff crews and cross-checking Super Bowl eligibility, some things aren’t adding up. Could Walt Anderson be assigning Super Bowl officials differently in this round? Or are we in for a bigger surprise when the Super Bowl crew is announced?

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This weekend many times features some of the most exciting playoff games of the year. We’re looking forward to some good games and some great officiating this weekend!