nick in* england Posted October 7, 2004 Posted October 7, 2004 During the Patriots-Bills game in Week 4, veteran NFL referee Johnny Grier hurt himself during a play and needed medical attention. It turned out he tore his leg muscle, which means he can't run up and down the field and call the game. This left the game in an interesting predicament -- with the head referee hurt, who takes over for him? Believe it or not, the NFL has a contingency plan in the event something like this happens. In each of the 17 crews, there is a referee who at one time was a referee either in college football, NFL Europe or Arena Football. The experience isn't exactly like that of being an NFL referee, but it's relatively close, plus all of the linesmen and judges have a very good understanding of the rules. So the replacement referee is already in place in case the head referee injures himself. In Grier's case, back judge Scott Green took over and did a great job. The above from Gil Brandt.... he can shut that stevestojan up right now. We were screwed - and apparantly cos we had a backup ref :I starred in Brokeback Mountain:
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