which means the call should stand.But Riveron and

Gene Steratore is heading to the Super Bowl for the second straight season Steven Nelson Jersey , this time in a very different capacity.Steratore wraps up his first year as CBS rules analyst at Super Bowl 53 in Atlanta on Feb. 3. He will be in the booth with Jim Nantz and Tony Romo whenever a replay decision or officiating call needs interpretation as the Los Angeles Rams face the New England Patriots.CBS hired Steratore last summer when he retired after a 35-year career as a football and basketball official. He had been an NFL official since 2003 and was a referee for 12 years. His final assignment was last year’s Super Bowl between New England and Philadelphia.“I’m maybe a little more nervous about this game. It’s good, nervous energy because there’s the lack of 35 years of experience (in television),” Steratore said in a phone interview.Steratore was in the network’s New York studio on Sundays during the regular season, but he did work the Chicago-Detroit Thanksgiving game in the booth to get used to working with Nantz and Romo. He has been part of the crew throughout the playoffs.He acknowledged he had a learning curve at the beginning of the season but has gained confidence throughout the year.“He has a lot of natural ability to articulate what we need in a short window. I’ve been able to carry on a conversation with him as if we’ve been doing this for years,” Nantz said. “The way the rules are these days I can’t imagine operating your show without someone.”Viewers of last Sunday’s AFC championship game between New England and Kansas City didn’t hear much from Steratore during the first three quarters, but there was a period during the fourth quarter when Steratore was offering more analysis than Romo.Julian Edelman’s apparent fumble of a Kansas City punt was reversed because there was no clear evidence that he touched it. Chiefs receiver Sammy Watkins also had a reception nullified when replay showed the ball hit the ground when he was unable to maintain clear possession.A catch by the Patriots’ Chris Hogan was upheld even though one angle showed he wasn’t able to maintain possession before it hit the ground. There was also a roughing-the-passer penalty against Kansas City defensive lineman Chris Jones that Steratore thought was the wrong call.“We had about a 15-minute period where it was the Gene Steratore show,” CBS producer Jim Rikhoff said. “He has fit in perfectly with what we have done. He has a natural chemistry with Jim and Tony, and I am sure he will do a great job next week.”Steratore is also hoping the Super Bowl won’t have the controversy that marred the two conference championship games. The non-pass interference against Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman in the NFC championship game against New Orleans has continued to resonate.“It’s an egregious mistake in that it is a foul. We don’t need to dwell more on the fact since coaches, players and officials all understand the magnitude,” Steratore said of the call. “I know the officials agree and admit that it was a mistake.“What I hope to always remember is how hard and fast this game is when you get between the lines. You probably are never going to work a perfect game.”Steratore has been at the center of controversial calls over the years. He was the referee in 2010 for the Calvin Johnson touchdown that was overturned and made “process of the catch” part of the NFL lexicon.Five years later in the NFC divisional round, Dez Bryant’s catch was overturned when it was determined he didn’t hold the ball throughout the process of going to the ground. Last year, the NFL’s competition committee simplified the catch rules.Steratore thinks the league has done a better job of defining the catch and making it easier to define possession. When it comes to other matters, he admits the job of officials continues to get more difficult, especially at a time when many veteran officials such as Steratore are retiring.“It was going to be a tall task this year with four referees leaving, implementing the helmet-to-helmet rule and a couple of other rules that were points of emphasis,” he said. “The game gets harder every year. We dwell on the major mistakes made year in and year out Nick Allegretti Kansas City Chiefs Jerseys , but I don’t know if this year was worse than years past.”The calls from the championship games also showed why each network has a former referee working games. Steratore was hired after CBS didn’t have one for two seasons. Rikhoff said with networks going to commercials during replay reviews, that gives Steratore more time to review the play, look for the right angles, then be able to form an opinion.Football wasn’t the only sport CBS hired Steratore for. He will also be a part of the CBS coverage of the NCAA basketball tournament. Steratore’s hope for the Super Bowl, though, is that he won’t need to be used that often.“Being in Atlanta for the week and watching what happens, the excitement is tremendous,” he said. “I think with all of this not only an official but as a fan of the game, we want the players and coaches to decide it.” KANSAS CITY, Mo. 鈥?The last thing the NFL would ever want is for an officiating mistake to decide the Super Bowl.On Sunday, the league might have made enough errors to determine both teams that will play in the championship game in two weeks.The most egregious gaffe came in the NFC title game in New Orleans. The Saints were in position to put away the Rams when Tommylee Lewis blatantly was interfered with inside the Los Angeles 5-yard line by cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman. Not only did Robey-Coleman hit Lewis early, he did so helmet to helmet. Next weekend, we’ll hear about Robey-Coleman being fined for the collision 鈥?even though, incredibly, no flag was thrown.“Came to the sideline, looked at the football gods and was like Kansas City Chiefs Jerseys 2019 , ‘Thank you,'” Robey-Coleman said. “I got away with one tonight.”Such a big one that it kept the Rams alive. Instead of a first down and the chance to run down the clock before making a field goal, or score a touchdown for a bigger lead, the Saints wound up with Wil Lutz‘s 31-yard kick. That made it 23-20 with 1:41 left in regulation, plenty of time for the Rams to march to Greg Zuerlein‘s tying 48-yard field goal.“Greg The Leg” won it with a 57-yarder in OT. His heroics almost certainly never would have happened had the call on Robey-Coleman been made. And the fact the defender led with his head into Lewis’ helmet at a time when the NFL is adamant that it’s doing everything to get such hits out of the sport should be even more maddening.“They felt like the players 鈥?the player 鈥?arrived at the same time that the ball did,” Saints coach Sean Payton said, trying to be diplomatic when he had every right to rant and rave. “They didn’t feel like it was an interference call.“Look, it’s a tough way to lose a game, especially when you’re in a position like that to win it. It’s all the more reason why we need more replay. We lose a chance to go to the Super Bowl with a call like that, it’s just disappointing. But, credit the Rams. They did a good job, made the plays in the end when they needed to.”Plays that wouldn’t have existed if Bill Vinovich’s crew got it right.An argument often is made, and rightly so, that plays seen in slow motion become clearly illegal, but at full speed in an increasingly fast and physical game, they look OK. That contention has no place here; even at warp speed Nick Allegretti Jersey nfl draft , Robey-Coleman’s hit was obviously a penalty.NFL senior vice president of officiating Al Riveron “couldn’t believe” no penalty call was called on the play, Payton said.“It’s tough to get over it,” Payton said. “My problem with it is, I just don’t know, if we were playing pickup football in the backyard … it was as obvious a call 鈥?and how two guys can look at that and arrive at their decision? It happened, though.”A few things happened in Kansas City, too, where the Patriots won 37-31, also in overtime. These had more to do with replay, with two critical calls going New England’s way in the fourth quarter.The first, which required a lengthy video review, involved Julian Edelman muffing a punt. The original call was that the bouncing ball touched him. Replays, even in stop motion, seemed inconclusive, which means the call should stand.But Riveron and his staff in New York saw enough evidence that Edelman never made contact with the football. Even Kansas City’s laid-back coach, Andy Reid From China Nick Allegretti Jersey , became highly demonstrative with the overturned decision. Who could blame him considering how many dozens of such calls stick with what on-field officials determined?The Chiefs, perhaps in a dose of poetic justice, soon after intercepted a pass that went off Edelman’s hands.But later in the quarter, Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones was called for a highly questionable roughing-the-passer penalty. Then Patriots wideout Chris Hogan attempted a one-handed catch on third down. Reid challenged, and replay indicated far more evidence the ground helped Hogan make the catch than the previous review showed Edelman whiffed on the ball.No matter. The catch was upheld, and six plays later, Sony Michel scored a touchdown.Chiefs linebacker Dee Ford also went offside on the Patriots’ final drive in regulation, negating an interception by Charvarius Ward that could have clinched a win. But there was little controversy there.The league has been under heavy scrutiny and drawn massive criticism about its officiating in the last few years. The perception is that the NFL needs full-time officials, which might help somewhat, and in part is being done.However, the deeper issues are too many rules and tangents to those rules; points of emphasis that get hammered in, then seemingly are discarded; and officials who struggle to keep up with the speed of the sport. The league prizes experience, but when one of its most experienced crews blows a call so blatant that even the perpetrator acknowledges he caught a break, the storm of protest will rage.Rightly so.100View Gallery Gallery:View from the sidelines: NFL cheerleaders 2018Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports | Raj Mehta