Scouting The Zebras

Dr. Walt Anderson (he is a dentist) and his crew will be in charge Sunday night during Super Bowl XLV as the Steelers take on the Packers in North Texas.  For any sports official, getting to call a Championship game is the highlight of an officiating career.  In Anderson’s case, this is his second Super Bowl (SB XXXV as Line Judge).

(Unfortunately over the regular season, officials have injected themselves into Steelers games at a disproportional rate.  Thus, a pre-game scouting report of each week’s officiating crew will be conducted.  Normally, referees do not like to be seen.  A measure of a good crew is when the final second ticks off the clock in the 4^th quarter, nobody remembers that they where even there.  Referees in many Steelers games this season have become household names; which is a shame.)

Referee: 66 – Walt Anderson

Umpire: 40 – Butch Hannah

Head Linesman: 110 – Phil McKinnely

Line Judge: 18 – Byron Boston

Field Judge: 43 – Terry Brown

Side Judge: 15 – Rick Patterson

Back Judge: 2 – Billy Smith

This crew has a combined 77 years of NFL officiating experience.

Anderson brings a lot of officiating experience to SB XLV.  He has been in the NFL since 1996 and has worked post season games every season since (when eligible) including one Super Bowl, three Championship Games, two Divisional Games and four Wild Card Games (Steeler Fans may recall Anderson as the referee during the Steelers/Patriots AFCCG in 2005).

Anderson has playing experience from the High School level (his father was a coach) through college where he played at Sam Houston State.  He was a two-time Academic All American and four year letter winner in college.

Anderson continued to stay close to football by officiating.  He has worked at all levels and was scouted by NFL officials while officiating college games in the Lonestar, Southland and Southwest Athletic Conferences.   Anderson is also the current Coordinator of Football Officials for the Big 12 Conference.

A topic of discussion each year is whether or not NFL officials should be full-time.  In Anderson’s case, he may be as close to full time as an official can get.  As stated above, Walt is a dentist.  He owned his own dental company.  Anderson was an NFL referee and also did work in NFL Europe.  He realized he couldn’t put the necessary time into both, so he sold his dental company to focus on officiating the right way.

He purchased all the necessary equipment, above necessary in this case, to include four satellite dishes (each linked to a DVR) , eight VCRs and computers capable of editing video.  He has been joked about having more and better equipment than ex-VP of Officiating, Mike Pereira.

From a 2005 Houston Chronicle article, Anderson’s in season schedule includes:

“Like every NFL official, Anderson receives a DVD of the game he has just worked before leaving the stadium each Sunday. He reviews the game on the plane ride back to Houston, e-mails his thoughts to crew members on Monday and presides over the first of two weekly conference calls that night.

Tuesday, each official receives sideline and end zone coaching tape from the previous weekend's game. Wednesday, they get their weekly evaluation from the league office and Anderson hosts a study session with Byron Boston and Jeff Lambert, two other officials who live in the area, and Houston-based replay official Tommy Moore.

Thursday, Anderson's crew has another conference call to discuss the past weekend's game. Then they meet Saturday for four hours to plan for the next day's game.

"It probably takes me a good eight to 10 hours between the TV tape and coaching tape to go through my own game," Anderson said. "Between last week's game and next week's game, I've probably got 25 hours a week of film study. I also tape four to five other games every week and go through those games and pick up unusual plays that the crew can benefit from."

Some Stats or Tendencies with Anderson’s Crew (from OfficiallySpeaking):

Defensive Pass Interference:

2008: 10

2009: 13

2010: 11

Total: 34 (Hochuli is the highest amongst referees for this time period with 50)

Roughing the Passer:

2008: 4

2009: 7

2010: 4

Total: 15 (The highest amongst referees for this time period is 21 by Al Riveron)

Offensive Pass Interference:

2008: 4

2009: 4

2010: 5

Total: 13 (The highest amongst referees for this time period is 22 by Scott Green)

In 2009, when Anderson was the official, the home team won 29% of the time.

In 2009, Anderson’s crew averaged: (RefChatBlog)

12.4 accepted penalties per game (most of any crew)

104 total penalty yard per game (most of any crew)

8.9 yards per penalty

39.7 points per game

Walt Anderson has also led meetings with NFL teams, like the Houston Texans, to better explain helmet to helmet hits and fully endorses the NFL’s policy on further protecting player’s safety.

Anderson’s crew has led all other crews in calling penalties.  Historically, Anderson does not have a high percentage of reversals on reviewable plays initiated by the booth.

However, after all the crews that I have researched, I think it is fair to conclude that Anderson is as thorough as a crew chief can be.  He understands the game, by being a former player, he certainly puts forth the extra effort to get calls correct, and through his film studies he understands different players and their tendencies.

I expect a tightly officiated game, but a fair one.

Under the NFL officiating program's evaluation system, the highest-rated eligible officials at each position earn the right to work the Super Bowl. Super Bowl officials must have at least five years of NFL experience and previous playoff assignments.