TIER 1

These referees are worthy of officiating a Super Bowl. They catch virtually every penalty, have almost perfect knowledge of the rulebook, and are completely free of bias against certain teams or players.

1. Ed Hochuli

2. Walt Anderson

3. Terry McAulay

4. Walt Coleman

TIER 2

These referees might miss a couple of flags here and there, but have sufficient knowledge of the rulebook and can explain nearly every call they make. They deserve to have a playoff assignment.

5. John Parry

6. Carl Cheffers

7. Tony Corrente

8. Ron Torbert

9. Craig Wrolstad

TIER 3

The referees in this group are somewhat inconsistent with penalties and might not always make the right call on the field, but will usually correct themselves after viewing the instant replay. These referees aren’t perfect by any means, but a game they officiate is unlikely to start a major controversy.

10. John Hussey

11. Clete Blakeman

12. Brad Allen

TIER 4

This group’s referees are wildly inconsistent from game to game and have quite a bias against certain teams. They aren’t completely incompetent, but they absolutely do not deserve to officiate a playoff game and their job as a referee should be on thin ice.

13. Bill Vinovich

14. Pete Morelli

15. Gene Steratore

16. Jerome Boger

TIER 5

This man is so bad he gets his own tier to himself. He is entirely unworthy of a job as a referee and should be fired immediately or limited to preseason contests until he improves his eyesight and knowledge of the game. He does a terrible job of managing football games and he makes up rules to justify the flags that he throws and the calls that he makes.

17. Jeff Triplette