Playoff alternate officials have specific duties on gameday

They’re happy, but not satisfied. They’d rather be on the field, but don’t want the circumstances happen that put them on the field. Who are they? The alternates. They are the five to seven people assigned, ready to go into a playoff game should an on field official get hurt or sick.

Alternates are not used during the regular season — only in postseason. If an official has to leave a regular season game, the crew goes to crew of six mechanics and covers the game with one less official.

It is rare for alternates to get into a playoff game; an alternate has never taken the field in the Super Bowl. The last time an alternate got into a playoff game due to injury was in the 2007 Washington-Seattle wild card game. In 2020, two officials were replaced in different playoff games with the alternate official. It was never explained what happened, but the most likely conclusion was there was a crew member tested positive for covid.

There have been two high-profile alternate situations over the years. Sadly, one happened in 1975 when a fan in Minnesota threw a whisky bottle and hit field judge Armen Terzian, shortly after the Dallas Cowboys completed the original Hail Mary (video).

Another high profile alternate situation happened in 1987 AFC Championship game. Field judge Dick Dolack had to leave the game with a leg injury. Referee Jerry Seeman was one of the two alternates for the game and came in for Dolack. Seeman was the official who ruled Denver recovered The Fumble sending the Broncos on to Super Bowl XXII (video).

That championship game was one of the reasons the NFL eventually expanded the number of alternate officials. For several years, there were two alternates, a referee and an official at another position. Seeman was the official best suited to go into the game. So he worked the second half of the conference championship game at field judge — a position he never worked in the NFL.

With more alternate officials now, if they have to enter the game, they go in at a position that most closely matches their current role. The five alternates came about during covid, and the NFL kept the policy in place. For the conference championship and Super Bowl, the NFL assigned seven on field alternates and an alternate replay official.

Additional sideline duties

In addition to being ready to substitute into a game, there are some duties assigned to each. An alternate official is assigned to each coach in playoff games, and two each in the championship games and Super Bowl. Two officials take custody of the home- and away-team kicking balls; the one who has the offense will have to be aware of a potential kicking down, while the one in charge of the defense’s kicking ball supply will work as a floater on the sideline. The final alternate has a headset connected the replay booth, taking the place of the replay field communicator in regular season games.

In the past few years, we’ve seen alternates come onto the field to help the regular crew break up scuffles. They cannot call penalties, but they can be an extra body to help quell a fracas. Alternates also cannot make any calls for the officials, and for good reason. The alternates are on the sideline and don’t have the correct angle to rule on plays.

Alternates assigned to the coach will constantly keeping him abreast of the call on the field, penalty options and replay results. Alternates also serve as the “complaint department” for coaches. The alternate is an extra buffer between the coach and crew. If the alternate can redirect and calm down a coach before the crew has to deal with him, that alternate will have earned their check and then some. In the Divisional Playoffs, referee Land Clark was next to Ravens coach John Harbaugh, who was upset by how the on-field crew handled dead-ball action.

In the Wild Card Playoffs, a drone was spotted near M&T Bank Stadium, and the game supervisor assigned by NFL football operations ordered the game to be stopped until the situation could be handled. The alternate official working as the replay field coordinator can communicate with the game supervisor, who doesn’t have access to the on-field officiating communications. That alternate official was able to tell the down judge to stop the game.

Also for the Super Bowl, the alternates take on some pregame tasks. The late Chad Brown wrote in his book Inside the Meat Grinder, that he was an alternate for Super Bowl XXXIII, and he helped the crew inspect all the footballs during the pre-game, since a large amount of footballs are used during the Super Bowl. I’m sure the crew appreciated the extra set of hands helping in that arduous task!

While alternates are happy to be there and would rather be on the field, they hope they wear the warm-up jacket and headsets and stand on the sideline all game.

Timeline of alternate officials

Number of alternate officials assigned to postseason games since 1990 (Football Zebras research):

Images: Charles Curtis/Duluth News Tribune