Alright, fun’s over. You guys let me wax poetic for 3000 words about game control and crew credibility. Now it’s time to get into a few more plays from Saturday. I will say (spoiler alert), a few of these calls weren’t great — and that may be generous. That really highlights just how important keeping control of the game is for an officiating crew.

It’s difficult to articulate if you’ve never worked a game, but every official who has will know exactly what I’m talking about: there are just some games where you never feel like you’re able to dedicate 100% of your focus to the on-field action. There’s always something else. Some coach, player(s) or overall game situations seem to nag at you, and it doesn’t feel like your brain is processing things as quickly as it usually does.

Again, credit to this crew for getting things ironed out at halftime (the two squads in jerseys aren’t the only teams to make adjustments at the intermission). That funk is incredibly difficult to pull out of, and it takes a skilled crew chief with a full crew of good officials to make it happen. Until they do, though, they provide some excellent Ask a Back Judge fodder.

Why wasn’t intentional grounding called on Drones in Q1? — Will Stewart

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