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One NFL head coach rated John Parry as the league's best referee for a confidential survey back in 2008.

San Francisco 49ers fans might recall Parry for the disputed chop-block call he made against running back Frank Gore at Baltimore in Week 12. The flag wiped out a 75-yard touchdown pass to Ted Ginn Jr. in a game the 49ers lost, 16-6.

That call comes to mind this week after the NFL assigned Parry's crew to work the 49ers' divisional playoff game against New Orleans on Saturday.

Coach John Harbaugh called the ruling in Baltimore "unfortunate" and "unlucky" given what he considered that specific penalty's somewhat inconsistent enforcement.

That was the only chop-block penalty Parry's crew called during the regular season. The NFL did not fine Gore for the block. I thought the call was technically accurate, at best, but it did not fulfill the intent of the rule, which was to protect players. Gore had already committed to deliver a low block when tackle Anthony Davis shoved the defender high.

With an assist from ESPN Stats & Information, I've put together a chart showing where Parry's crew ranks among the 17 crews in various penalty calls. The NFL shifts to all-star crews for championship games and the Super Bowl.

Parry's low ranking for unnecessary roughness appears offset, at least somewhat, by a higher number of calls for generic personal fouls.
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SEATTLE -- Veteran referee Ron Winter gets the call for the San Francisco 49ers' game against the Seattle Seahawks at CenturyLink Field.

My periodic efforts to find meaning in officiating stats have led to the following chart. Hank Gargiulo of ESPN Stats & Information provided the officiating data.

I singled out some of the more regularly called penalties and sorted them for Winter based on where his crew ranks in number of such penalties called this season.

For example, Winter's crews have called 16 penalties for delay of game, most in the league. But his crew has called only two penalties for roughing the passer. That ranks 15th out of 17 crews this season.

Winter ranks relatively low in calls for pass interference and illegal contact. That is something to keep in mind for this game. Seahawks cornerback Brandon Browner leads the league in penalties, with many for infractions during coverage.
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An end-of-season look at where NFL officiating crews rank in a few categories where discretion and controversy tend to apply, listed by referee (with Walt Coleman scheduled to work Seattle's wild-card game Sunday):

The second chart breaks down defensive pass-interference numbers by crew for the last three seasons.

The next chart breaks down offensive pass interference by crew for the 2010 season only.
Note that Coleman's crew has called only one such penalty this season, second-fewest in the league behind Seattle favorite Bill Leavy.

The next chart breaks down the offensive pass-interference calls by crew for the last three seasons.

The final chart shows three-year totals for roughing the passer, by crew.

Seattle fans might remember the controversial roughing penalty against Seahawks defensive end Raheem Brock during the team's defeat at New Orleans in Week 11.

The pivotal play did not draw a fine, tacit admission that referee Mike Carey's crew erred on the call.

Coleman's crews have only four roughing calls over the last three seasons, fewest in the league among referees working continuously since 2008.

Note: All info from ESPN Stats & Information and includes declined penalties.

With apologies to St. Louis Rams fans trying to forget about the costly pass-interference call against safety Oshiomogho Atogwe in Week 10, I'll pass along stats showing interference calls by officiating crew.

Referee Ed Hochuli's crew worked the Rams' game in Week 10. His crews have called the most penalties of any kind over the last three seasons, according to ESPN Stats & Information. His crews rank tied for the most defensive pass interference calls.

The Rams might have picked the wrong officiating crew to tempt with a close call on interference. They might have had a better chance if, say, John Parry's crew were working their game. Parry's crew was off in Week 10, but it has called 15 defensive pass interference penalties since the 2009 opener, compared to 14 for Hochuli's crew this season alone.

Officials are calling more penalties per game overall and more for defensive pass interference, as the final row of the chart indicates.

The NFL is increasingly concerned with protecting quarterbacks.

Sometimes that concern makes it tough for a defensive player to carry out his job aggressively. Sometimes a borderline roughing-the-passer penalty can influence a game's outcome.

When the St. Louis Rams' Oshiomogho Atogwe and Fred Robbins drew roughing-the-passer penalties during a 16-14 defeat at Oakland in Week 2, the plays wound up factoring into the outcome significantly. The foul against Atogwe sustained a Raiders drive to a field goal. The foul against Robbins, which seemed like a borderline call from the Rams' perspective, allowed Oakland to run out the clock.

What if Robbins in particular had known that the referee that day, Tony Corrente, called far more roughing penalties than some of his peers? Might Robbins have backed off instead of giving Raiders quarterback Bruce Gradkowski a little shove? I'll try to ask Robbins Sunday following the Rams' game against Seattle.

It's entirely possible the referees with more roughing calls witnessed more cases of roughing. It's also reasonable to think referees apply slightly different standards when determining whether to call roughing the passer. Crews associated with Corrente and Ed Hochuli call more non-roughing penalties than other referees, so it's no surprise to see them near the top of the list for roughing, too. Al Riveron ranks tied for first in roughing calls and 10th in non-roughing penalties since 2008.

The chart, put together with information provided by Hank Gargiulo of ESPN Stats & Information, shows how many roughing-the-passer penalties each referee's crew has called (including declined penalties) over the last three seasons. Note that Clete Blakeman is a first-year referee. The others listed have worked as referees since at least 2008.

The Seahawks' firing of Jim Mora changed the subject here on the NFC West blog, but the division has other business this weekend, of course.

With the Packers visiting Arizona in the wild-card round, I wanted to revive a periodic feature here.

Officiating is generally something we discuss after controversial or confusing calls. I've tried to anticipate potential issues.

Scott Green is the referee assigned to the Packers-Cardinals game. His crew has called 12 penalties for offensive pass interference, five more than any crew has called. The Packers' Donald Lee and the Cardinals' Larry Fitzgerald and Anthony Becht are the only players on either team with such a penalty this season (each has one).

The Packers have committed nine of the 15 penalties for defensive pass interference among the teams, led by Tramon Williams (four) and Charles Woodson (three). Bryant McFadden (two) is the only Cardinals player with more than one.

Posted by ESPN.com's Mike Sando

Referee 2009 Replay Challenges 2009 Replay Reversals Don Carey 11 6 Al Riveron 10 5 Jerome Boger 7 3 Scott Green 6 3 Gene Steratore 6 3 Terry McAulay 5 3 John Parry 6 2 Carl Cheffers 5 2 Ron Winter 14 1 Mike Carey 6 1 Walt Coleman 5 1 Tony Corrente 4 1 Jeff Triplette 4 1 Ed Hochuli 3 1 Peter Morelli 3 1 Bill Leavy 1 0 Walt Anderson 0 0

joe_cool585 sized up the referee breakdowns from Week 5 and said, "The real question is, how many of each referee's challenged calls have been overturned?"

Easy enough.

Rookie referee Don Carey still holds the league lead for reversals, but the field is gaining on him. Carey suffered two reversals in Week 1, three in Week 2, one in Week 3 and none in Weeks 4 or 5. He is one of eight referees -- there are 17 -- to work each week this season.

Carey, second-year ref Al Riveron and veteran Ron Winter have faced a combined 35 coach- and booth-initiated challenges this season. Veteran Walt Anderson has faced none. Winter's stat line stands out for its unusually low reversal rate. Winter has reversed only one of the league-high 14 challenges he has faced while working only four games. Weird.

I've asked officiating director Mike Pereira about these sorts of disparities in past seasons. He has basically said he doesn't care about the numbers as long as officials are making the correct calls. I like replay stats because reversals document those errors referees acknowledge.

Pereira covered a few controversial plays from Week 5 in his weekly Official Review segment. I thought his explanation for the weird taunting call in the Patriots-Broncos game held up better than expected. It sure looked "fishy" (Pereria's words).

I've been tracking replay stats for years. ESPN Stats & Information also tracks penalty stats by crew. Terry McAulay's crew has flagged offensive linemen only six times this season. The crews of Jerome Boger, Anderson, Winter, Walt Coleman, Ed Hochuli and Scott Green have each called at least 23 penalties against offensive lines. That's an aspect of officiating I'll explore in the coming weeks.

The crews of Coleman and Hochuli have each called 10 penalties for offensive holding against offensive linemen. The crews of McAulay (3), Don Carey (3), Riveron (3) and Peter Morelli (2) have combined to call just 11.

Posted by ESPN.com's Mike Sando

Referee 2009 Coach-Initiated Challenges Per Game Don Carey 8 2.0 Ron Winter 8 2.0 Al Riveron 7 1.8 John Parry 5 1.7 Gene Steratore 4 1.0 Jeff Triplette 3 1.0 Jerome Boger 3 0.8 Mike Carey 3 0.8 Walt Coleman 3 0.8 Scott Green 3 0.8 Carl Cheffers 2 0.7 Terry McAulay 2 0.7 Ed Hochuli 2 0.5 Peter Morelli 1 0.3 Tony Corrente 1 0.3 Bill Leavy 1 0.3 Walt Anderson 0 0.0

The angry coach is a staple of sports with an entire line of Coors Light commercials to prove it.

Someone should market a Coaches Gone Wild video.

Coaches' cardiologists might disagree, but there's something utterly amusing about a grown man spewing steam toward an unsympathetic referee.

With those visuals in mind, I made an initial stab at putting together a referee satisfaction index for this season. The chart shows how many times head coaches have challenged each NFL referee through Week 4.

Challenges are subjective. Most are futile. Some seem to represent emotional, even petty overreactions by teed off coaches. It's interesting to me that coaches issue more wasted challenges during home games, when throwing the red flag can appease the locals, if only temporarily.

The Vikings' Brad Childress, for example, has a 9-8 challenge record on the road and a 5-14 challenge record at home, based on my records. His predecessor, Mike Tice, was even worse (5-7 road, 1-10 home). The Jaguars' Jack Del Rio (8-13 road, 8-20 home), the Titans' Jeff Fisher (7-6 road, 6-13 home) and the Bears' Lovie Smith (11-14 road, 5-17 home) are similarly futile home challenges. Former 49ers coach Mike Nolan (6-4 road, 6-13 home) was another futile home challenger.

Coaches have focused their challenges disproportionately.

Four of 17 NFL referees account for half of the 56 coach-initiated replay challenges through Week 4. Head coaches have challenged three refs -- Don Carey, Ron Winter and Al Riveron -- 23 times already. Carey is a first-year ref. Riveron is a second-year ref. Winter denied four challenges in Week 4, including two raised by the Ravens. Winter's satisfaction rating among the Ravens could use a little restoration.

Posted by ESPN.com's Mike Sando

Referee 2009 Replay Reversals Don Carey 6 Al Riveron 3 Jerome Boger 2 Terry McAulay 2 John Parry 2 Gene Steratore 2 Mike Carey 1 Carl Cheffers 1 Walt Coleman 1 Tony Corrente 1 Scott Green 1 Ed Hochuli 1 Peter Morelli 1 Jeff Triplette 1 Ron Winter 1 Walt Anderson 0 Bill Leavy 0 AVERAGES 1.5

Based on Jim Mora's general postgame comportment Sunday, the Seahawks' coach is probably fortunate no one asked what role officiating played in the game.

Referee Don Carey, who accounted for five of 19 replay reversals through Week 2, made his league-leading sixth reversal a memorable one when he returned possession to the Bears following Matt Forte's fumble at the Seattle 1-yard line. Linebacker David Hawthorne had recovered for the Seahawks, who held a 13-0 lead at the time.

"A decision will be reversed only when the referee has indisputable visual evidence available to him," the rule book states.

This one appeared inconclusive at best.

Mora's postgame rant against kicker Olindo Mare might have read differently had anyone pressed for his thoughts on Carey's reversal. I doubt he would have the ruling, uh, acceptable.

"If you’re a kicker in the National Football League you should make those kicks -- bottom line," Mora said of Mare. "End of story. Period. No excuses. No wind, doesn’t matter. You’ve gotta makes those kicks. Especially in a game like this, where you’re kicking and fighting and scratching your tail off and you miss those kicks, it’s not acceptable. Not acceptable. Absolutely not acceptable."

Carey suffered two reversals -- and Mike Singletary's ire -- while working the 49ers-Cardinals game in Week 1. He suffered three more reversals in Week 2. The NFL's 17 referees have suffered 26 replay reversals in 48 games this season. More than a third involved calls made by Carey, a rookie referee, and second-year ref Al Riveron.

Posted by ESPN.com's Mike Sando

Referee 2009 Replay Reversals Don Carey 5 Terry McAulay 2 John Parry 2 Al Riveron 2 Gene Steratore 2 Jerome Boger 1 Mike Carey 1 Carl Cheffers 1 Walt Coleman 1 Peter Morelli 1 Jeff Triplette 1 Walt Anderson 0 Tony Corrente 0 Scott Green 0 Ed Hochuli 0 Bill Leavy 0 Ron Winter 0 AVERAGES 1.1

Three more replay reversals in Week 2 left rookie referee Don Carey with five, three more than any other referee and 4.1 more than the average for the 16 other refs.

Carey suffered two reversals working the Cardinals-49ers game in Week 1. He worked the Panthers-Falcons game in Week 2.

Replay reversals can be telling because they provide documented evidence of mistakes deemed egregious enough for a head coach or replay official to challenge the call. Gerry Austin led the league in reversals for the 2007 season. The league replaced him in 2008. Bill Leavy had the most last season. He has none through two games.

The chart breaks down replay reversals by officiating crew.

Head coaches have challenged Carey five times, winning four reversals. Replay officials have challenged him twice. Falcons coach Mike Smith won two reversals against Carey in Week 2. Panthers coach John Fox won one. Two of the three reversals involved whether passes were completed on third-down plays. One reversal sustained a Falcons drive that ended in the go-ahead touchdown in the second quarter.

Elsewhere in the NFC West, Arizona benefited when Gene Steratore's crew did not call pass interference against Cardinals cornerback Bryant McFadden. The Cardinals then returned a blocked field goal try for a touchdown to produce a 17-3 lead.

At Washington, Jerome Boger's crew did not penalize the Redskins' Albert Haynesworth for landing hard on sliding Rams quarterback Marc Bulger. Defenders were already converging and within striking distances when Bulger initiated his slide, but I've seen lesser offenses penalized.

Leavy's assignment to work a Seahawks game for the first time since Super Bowl XL came and went without incident.

Posted by ESPN.com's Mike Sando

SAN FRANCISCO -- The media flip card at Candlestick Park features a name familiar to Seahawks fans: Bill Leavy.

The veteran referee is working a Seahawks game for the first time since Mike Holmgren complained bitterly about calls that went against Seattle during the team's loss to Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XL after the 2005 season.

This appears to be part of an NFL trend discussed here after Week 1.

For years, the league appeared to shield referees from working games involving teams that suffered from controversial calls, even when those calls were correct.

Walt Coleman still hasn't worked a Raiders game since invoking the tuck rule during the Patriots' playoff victory over Oakland on Jan. 19, 2002. Before last season, Ed Hochuli hadn't worked a Broncos game since Oct. 8, 2000. Before last week, referee Jeff Triplette hadn't worked an Eagles game since Oct. 23, 2001. Those games featured high-profile officiating decisions that worked against the teams involved.

Leavy's crew called controversial penalties against Darrell Jackson, Sean Locklear and Matt Hasselbeck during Super Bowl XL.

"We knew it was going to be tough going up against the Pittsburgh Steelers," coach Mike Holmgren told fans during a postgame rally. "I didn't know we were going to have to play the guys in the striped shirts as well."

Holmgren's departure from the Seahawks after last season might have cleared the way for this unwanted reunion. I have a hard time envisioning the league assigning Leavy to a game featuring Holmgren as one of the coaches.

Posted by ESPN.com's Mike Sando

Referee 2009 Replay Reversals Don Carey 2 Mike Carey 1 Carl Cheffers 1 Walt Coleman 1 Terry McAulay 1 Peter Morelli 1 John Parry 1 Al Riveron 1 Gene Steratore 1 Jeff Triplette 1 Walt Anderson 0 Jerome Boger 0 Tony Corrente 0 Scott Green 0 Ed Hochuli 0 Bill Leavy 0 Ron Winter 0 AVERAGES 0.65

Let's just say the Cardinals and 49ers will not be petitioning the NFL to have rookie referee Don Carey work more of their games this season.

Carey was the only NFL referee to suffer more than one replay reversal in Week 1 (he had two). He repeatedly left open his microphone, allowing fans to hear private conversations. And when he was speaking for the record, he bungled explanations.

Niners coach Mike Singletary apparently didn't hear enough from Carey, so he spoke with the new ref during halftime of the team's 20-16 victory at Arizona. The subject?

"You don’t want to know what it was, but it was very positive," said Singletary."He may not say that. Really, what it came down to was, when you are making calls out there, have someone over there near me that can relay some kind of information and I’ll be fine and that’s basically what we talked about and it happened in the second half. It worked out a lot better."

Also on the officiating front in Week 1, the NFL assigned veteran referee Jeff Triplette to work an Eagles game for the first time since Oct. 23, 2001. On that day, Triplette took away an Eagles first down on a fake punt when he ruled, after some delay, that Jeff Thomason had been an ineligible receiver on the play. The fourth-quarter call was correct, but Triplette had already announced that the 7-yard gain was legal because Thomason had lined up on the wing. He changed the call after consulting a card showing the Eagles' special-teams alignments. Philadelphia won, 10-9.

From that game until Sunday, Triplette had worked games for every NFL team but the Eagles and his home-state Panthers. The league seems to be ending some of these referee-team droughts after I pointed them out before last season. The fact that Triplette worked an Eagles-Panthers game -- at Carolina -- jumped out to me.

A year ago, the NFL assigned Ed Hochuli to work a Broncos game for the first time since 2000. Hochuli had worked at least three games for every other team in the league since his crew assessed nine penalties against the Broncos -- three for defensive pass interference and others against the offensive line -- during an Oct. 8, 2000 game.

Walt Coleman still hasn't worked a Raiders game since he correctly -- but controversially -- implemented the tuck rule during a 2002 divisional playoff game between New England and Oakland. Bill Leavy hasn't worked a Seahawks game since Mike Holmgren complained about officiating in Super Bowl XL. Perhaps we'll see that change now that Holmgren is gone and the league is making what appears to be a concerted effort to move past some of these disputes.