Super Bowl 2017 referees got nearly every call right, with one exception

The biggest football game of the year draws the best officials from the regular season. First-time Super Bowl referee Carl Cheffers and his crew certainly looked the part in Houston, calling a tight game — with one near-game-changing exception.

Cheffers’ crew only blew two calls on the evening, one of which was rectified by Atlanta coach Dan Quinn’s challenge flag. That came when a side judge missed Julian Edelman stepping out of bounds during a third-quarter punt return, awarding the Patriots 7 bonus yards. A quick check of the monitors put the ball in its rightful spot, and New England would punt three plays later.

The other, however, was much worse. Referees cost the Patriots a point in a game so close it turned into the only overtime Super Bowl in NFL history.

Shea McClellin has made a recent habit of perfectly timing the snap on field goals, hurdling the offensive line, and getting into the backfield to block a kick a split second behind the ball. He did it again Sunday, leaping over the gap between Atlanta’s long snapper and guard to seemingly erase Matt Bryant’s extra point attempt in the second quarter to keep the Falcons lead at 13-0.

Instead, McClellin was flagged for illegal formation for lining up directly across from the snapper. This was a mistake, and it ultimately gave the Falcons an extra point they shouldn’t have earned.

It’s tough to say that made an indelible impact on the game. Even without the extra point, the Patriots still needed at least one two-point conversion to match the Falcons. Rather than chance it a second time and take the lead before the end of regulation, it’s much more likely Bill Belichick would have settled for the safe play and overtime.

Cheffers and his band of umpires and judges may have thrown more than twice as many flags against the Falcons in their stunning loss to the Patriots, but ultimately got most of their calls right. The bulk of their penalties came down on each side’s defensive backs — there were six calls for pass interference or defensive holding — but ultimately adopted a “let them play” approach for minor infractions that failed to directly impact the play.

More importantly, the crew was on top of the biggest moments of the game, repeatedly making the right calls when it came to toe-tapping catches near the sideline, fumbles in the field of play, and assessing when runners found a way to break the plane of the end zone. The officials took a measured approach to their calls, deliberately looking around for backup after a big play, getting feedback from each judge, and making the call a second later.

Case in point: This was originally ruled a catch on the field, a call replay would support moments later.

One botch won’t mar Cheffers’ experience. The Super Bowl virgin headed up a competent crew that made the correct calls and, most importantly, blended in to the background during some of the game’s biggest moments. Whether it was flagging overzealous cornerbacks for latching on to their receivers too long or penalizing blocks that pulled pass rushers from the action, the referees at Super Bowl LI got things mostly right.