National Football League

NFL tries to keep referees away from same teams, city

Published Sep. 17, 2010 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Pete Morelli of Stockton, Calif., was the referee of the Monday night game in which the Kansas City Chiefs hosted the San Diego Chargers. Now do you think he will work another game that involves the Chargers or the Chiefs?

Maybe. Do you think that he will work another game this season in Kansas City? Not likely.

The NFL has an assigning policy that ensures that officiating crews don't become too familiar with any of the 32 teams during a season. Attempts are made to not have a crew see a team more than once during the season.

That's impossible, but a crew will see only a few teams twice during the season. If they do, it won't be within a six-week period, and they won't go to the same city twice. If they have to see a team twice, it will be once on the road and once at home or twice on the road.

For more of my thoughts, check out the answers I posted in my post-Week 1 chat.